m 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

€^pr 3 l^'iop^rig^i l|u 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



\ 



WUIIOFTHE^T.ELMO'^ 



FROM THE NUTMEG STATE 
TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



1883 




^<x^ 



COPYRIGHTED 
BY' E. B. EVERITT 



PUBLISHED BY THE 
MERIDEN BOOK-BINDERY. 



fo 



i 



[^ 



TO THE 

SIR KNI&HTS 

OF 

ST. ELMO COMMANDERY 

Ko. !), K. T. 

AND THEIR LADIES 

THIS LITTLE RECORD OF A TOUR 

From the Nutmeg State 
To the Golden Gate 

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 



®l^e Pistoriau 



Contents. 



Page 

Chapter I. - - - - - - 1 1 

Chapter 1 1. - - - - - 22 

Chapter III.- - - - - - 29 

Chapter IV". - - - - - 36 

Chapter V. - - - - - - 43 

Chapter VI. _ _ - _ . ^q 

Chapter VII. - - - - - 61 

Chapter VIII. 81 

Chapter IX. - - - - - - 94 

Chapter X. - - - - - 104 

Chapter XI. - - - - - - 115 



CONTENTS. 

Chapter XII. - - - - - 124 

Chapter XIII. ----- 131 

Chapter XIV. ----- 138 

Chapter XV. - - - - - 164 

Chapter XVI. - - - - - 170 

Chapter XVII. ----- 181 

Chapter XVIII. - - - - 194 

Chapter XIX. 206 



Introductory, 



The Tour of the St, Elmo Party through the 

New England States, British Provinces, 

Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, 

Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, 

Arizona, California, Nevada, 

Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska 

AND Iowa, 

A Journey of nearly ten thousand miles and 

every mile a pleasure, 



Tour of the St. Elmo's. 

CHAPTER L 

On the morning of July 23, 1883, the palace 
excursion cars, "City of Worcester" and 
" Charles B. Pratt," were stationed at the 
railroad depot, Meriden, Conn., where they 
were visited and admired during the day by 
great numbers. 

These models of convenience and comfort 
were built by the Worcester Excursion Car 
Co. ; are sumptuously furnished, and roll along 
with the least possible jolting. The large 
windows are double and supplied with screens 
of very fine wire. The weight of the two is 
equal to that of three Pullmans. Both are 
twelve-wheel coaches and considered either as 
sleeping or dining cars are unexcelled. They 
are convertible in a twinkling into the easiest, 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

cosiest drawinp^-rooms imaginable. Each has 
a kitchen with excellent range, and convenient 
pantry, while underneath are lockers and refrig- 
erators. The smoking rooms, baggage rooms, 
wash rooms and state rooms are in keeping 
with the other elegant appointments. Each 
coach is accompanied by a capable cook, a 
porter and a waiter. In these two elegant 
palace cars the traveling party are certain of 
restful comfort while en route. 

Sir Knight S. W. Cummings, general pas- 
senger agent of the Central Vermont railroad, 
located at St. Albans, Vt., and Mr. S. W. 
Manning, New England agent of the Atchi- 
son, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad, located at 
Boston ; laboring together in the interest of 
the party, procured the publication of a thirty- 
two page itinerary and guide-book. The work 
was admirably done by the American Bank 
Note Engraving Co. of New York, under the 
direction and supervision of these capable and 
accommodatino- friends. 



PREPARA TIONS. 

Here is given exact time of arrival at and 
departure from every point in the trip. 

The chief points of interest and the various 
attractions are also described, the whole printed 
on heavy toned paper, each page emblazoned 
with Knight Templar emblems and the cov- 
ers illuminated with an orimnal desisfn bearinp- 
the name of the commandery. Every mem- 
ber of the party is presented with a sufficient 
number for distribution. A synopsis of this 
elegant itinerary is also published. 

The grand event of the 2 2d Triennial 
Conclavp: of the Grand Encampment of the 
U. S. of 1883, at San Francisco, Cal., calls 
for numbers of Knights Templar badges, cards, 
emblems, etc. The various preparations for 
this grand trip have been going on for three 
years. 

Sir Knight E. C. Birdsey, Deputy Grand 
Commander of Connecticut, has been indefati- 
gable in his labors during that time. His care- 
ful thought and earnest work have shaped the 

13 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

arrangements. Sir Knight L. E. Coe, past 
Eminent Commander of St. Elmo, has also 
labored faithfully to make the occasion a suc- 
cess. Others have of course given to the 
enterprise thought and labor. The prepara- 
tions are absolutely perfect. The eventful 
Monday, July 23d, sees the various tourists 
busily engaged in preliminaries. For half an 
hour before the arrival of the 3.57 train, the 
excursionists were kept busy bidding their 
scores of friends good-bye. All was bustle 
and merriment on board the coaches as an 
extra engine drew them down the track and 
they were attached. The train slowly moves 
away amid the waving of hands, hats and 
handkerchiefs from the coaches and from the 
hundreds on the platform, then, gradually 
increasing its speed, curves around the bend 
of the track and the Knights Templar and 
their ladies bid Meriden adieu, expecting to 
return when the leaves begin to fall. 
The synopsis of itinerary is as follows : 
14 



SYiVOPSIS OF ITINERARY. 

PILGRIMAGE FROM MERIDEN. CONNECTICUT. TO 
SAN FRANCISCO. CALIFORNIA, 

TO THE 

Twenty- Second Triennial Conclave of the Grand Encampment of 

the United States, August 21st, iSSj, 

In Excursion Hotel Cars " C. B. Pratt," and " City of Worcester.'' 

Monday, July 23 — Leave Meriden via Springfield, for Montreal, 
P. Q., at 3.57 p. M. 

Tuesday, July 24 — Carriage rides in Montreal and excursion 

through Lachine Rapids. 
Wednesday. July 25 — In Toronto, Ont., 11:30 a.m. till 3:35 p.m. 

Niagara Falls at 6:40 p. m. 
Thursday. July 26 — Niagara Falls. Leave at 1:00 p. M. 
Friday, July 27 — Arrive at Chicago. 8:00 a.m. Carriage rides. 

Leave at 12:35 ^- M- 
Saturday, July 28 — Kansas City at 9:45 a. m., and leave for Den- 
ver, via Pueblo. 
Sunday. Jul}^ 2g — Arrive at Denver and spend the day. 
Monday, July 30 — Excursion to mines of Central City and Black 

Hawk. 
Tuesday, July 31 — In Denver. Leave at 2:30 p. m. for Colorado 

Springs. Arrive at 6:00 p. m. 
Wednesday, Aug. i — Carriage ride to Manitou, Garden of the 

Gods, etc. Leave at 6:00 p. m. 
Tluirsda}', Aug. 2 — Excursion from Pueblo through Grand Canon. 

Leave Pueblo at 8:40 p. m. 
Friday, Aug. 3 — Arrive at Las Vegas Hot Springs, N. M., 3:05 v. m. 
Saturday, Aug. 4 — Leave Las Vegas Hot Springs at 12:05 p.m. 

Arrive at Santa Fe, N. M., at 6:50 p. m. 
Sunday, Aug. 5 — At Santa Fe. 

^5 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 6 and 7 — En route through New 

Mexico and Arizona, arriving at Los Angeles, 4:45 v. M. 
Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 8 and 9— Carriage rides from 

Los Angeles to orange groves and vineyards. Leave Aug. 9, 

at 5:15 V. M. 
Friday, Aug. 10 — Arrive at Madera 6:43 A.M. Stage for the 

Yoscmite. Arrive at Clark's 7:00 v. M. 
Saturday, Aug. 11 — Leave Clark's for Yosemite, arriving at noon. 
Sunday, Aug. 12 — In Yosemite. 
Monday, Aug. 13 — Leave Yosemite for Big Trees, and spend the 

night at Clark's. 
Tuesday, Aug. 14 — Leave Clark's 6:00 A. M., and arrive at Madera 

at 6:00 I'.M. 
Wednesday, Aug. 15 — Leave Madera 6:43 a.m., and arrive at San 

Francisco at 2:40 p. M. 
Thursday, Aug. 16, to Friday, Aug. 24 — In San Francisco with 

headquarters at Baldwin Hotel. Excursions at the pleasure 

of the party to Monterey, Santa Cruz, the Geysers, Petrified 

Forest, etc. 
Friday, Aug. 24 — Leave San Francisco via Sacramento, 3:30 p.m. 
Saturday, Aug. 25 — En route through the Sierras and Nevada. 
Sunday, Aug. 26 — Spend the day at Salt Lake City. 
Monday, Aug. 27 — En route through Utah and Wyoming Ter. 
Tuesda}^ Aug. 28 — En route through the Rocky Mountains. 
Wednesday, Aug. 29 — En route through Nebraska, arriving at 

Omaha 3:35 p. m. 
Thursday, Aug. 30 — En route through Iowa and Illinois, arriving 

at Chicago, 2:15 p. m. 
Friday, Aug. 31 — En route through Michigan and Ontario. 
Saturday, Sept. i — En route from Montreal to Meriden, arriving 

home at 9:20 p. m. 

16 



LIST OF THE TOURISTS. 

Official List of Members of St. Elmo Tourist Party. 

R. E. Sir H. Wales Lines, P. G. C— Executive Committee. 
V. E. Sir Eli C. Birdsey, Vi.G.Q,.— Master of Transportation. 
E. Sir E. B. Covvles, E. C. — Chairman Finance Comfuittee. 
E. Sir Wm. H. Miller. P. E. Q.—Menu Committee. 
E. Sir E. J. DooLlTTLE, P. E. C— Chairman Executive 

Covimittee. 
E. Sir Levi E. Coe, P. E. C— Treasurer. 
S 

s 
s 
s 
s 

s 
s 
s 

S: 
S 

s 



r Wilbur F. Davis— Ccwtva/ Secretary. 

r Charles S. Perkins, Rec. — Finance Committee. 

r E. B. Everitt, J. W. — Historian. 

r John W. Coe — Commissary. 

r Reuben T. Cook — Commissary. 

r N. F. Griswold — Menu Committee. 

r W. A. Kelsey — iT/«/K Committee. 

r A. B. Mather — Amusement Committee. 

r J. Frank Fkkit: — Quartermaster. 

r H. H. Strong — Commissary. 

r F. Stevenson, ]t.— Finance Committee. 

r Geo. S. Taylor — Time Keeper. 

Ladies. 
Mrs. Eli C. Birdsey, Mrs. John W. Coe, 

Mrs. E. B. Cowles, Mrs. Reuben T. Cook, 

Mrs. E. J. DooLiTTLE, Mrs. N. F. Griswold, 

Mrs. Levi E. Coe, Mrs. W. A. Kelsey, 

Mrs. Wilbur F. Davis, Mrs. H. H. Strong, 

Mrs. E. B. Everitt, Mrs. F. Stevenson, Jr. 

Mrs. George S. Taylor. 

'7 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

The party as originally made up were all 
en route with the exception of Mr. and Mrs. 
Wilbur F. Davis, the sudden illness of their 
only child having detained them. The follow- 
ing quotation from a local editorial speaks of 
an elegant reception at Springfield, Mass.: 

" Aside from the disappointment occasioned 
by the absence of Mr. and Mrs. Davis, a feel- 
ing that will be increased to grief when the 
sad news of the death of little Stanley reaches 
them, the St. Elmo tourists had an exceedingly 
pleasant beginning to their journey. A party 
of Meriden friends accompained them as far 
as Springfield, where they were met by the 
Springfield Knights Templar who had tendered 
them a " bon voyage" banquet. About sixty 
Springfield people, Sir Knights and their 
wives, had gathered at the Massasoit house and 
an hour or so was delightfully spent in a social 
way in the parlors before the company ad- 
journed to the dining room. The Springfield 
Sir Knights treated their guests right royally. 

iS 



"BON VOYAGE" BANQUET. 

The banquet was a very elaborate one, and a 
merrier party never sat down to a feast. 

" Following is a list of the Springfield Sir 
Knights and their ladies : 

O. K. Merrill, E. C. 
S. B. Spooner, p. E. C. 

E. P. Chapin, G. C. G., of Mass. and R. I. 
A. F. Ball. 

C. A. Call, C. G. 
A. C. Harvey. Warder, and lady. 
C. J. Sanderson, Rec, and sister. 
J. H. Rogers, S. W. B., and wife. 

G. W. BOWKER. 

H. M. Phillips, Mayor of Springfield. 

F. E. Carpenter. 

E. P. Kendrick, Pres't. Common Council of City. 

C. C. Spellman, p. E. C, and wife. 

D. E. Taylor and wife. 
A. B. West. 

J. E. Shipman, Prelate, and sister. 

J. C. LuTZ and wife. 

Geo. N. Parsons, J. W., and wife. 

T. T. Davee, Generalissimo, and wife. 

N. W. FiSK and wife. 

H. C. Lee and wife. 

G. F. Adams. 
W. H. Gilbert. 

" Sir Knight H. Wales Lines returns to 
Meriden, being detained by business and will 
overtake the party at Denver. 

^9 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

"The tourists left Springfield on the 8.15 
train, via the Connecticut River road, for 
Montreal." 

A series of letters from the historian of the 
party will tell the story of the journey. Quota- 
tions from the itinerary will also be used. 

From Itinerary. 

"Our journey during the night (over which 
we shall return by daylight) will be as follows : 
through the beautiful Connecticut Valley with 
its charming views of mountain scenery, and 
the historic points of interest along the banks 
of the Connecticut river ; from Windsor over 
the Old Reliable Central Vermont Rail- 
road, which was opened to Montpelier in 1849, 
and extended to St. Johns in 1862, there mak- 
ing connection for Montreal with the Grand 
Trunk Railway. The deep, fertile valleys, 
gently sloping uplands, verdant hillsides, cloud- 
capped summits of the Green Mountains, com- 
bine to furnish scenery unsurpassed in this 
country in peaceful beauty and grandeur. 



THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY, 

Fresh surprises greet the traveler on every 
hand, until, at the end of a day's journey, one 
retraces his way over the mountains, through 
the valleys, over the rushing torrents, past the 
peaceful, prosperous farms, where contentment 
reigns supreme, along the fertile meadows, 
beside the loveliest of lakes, through pros- 
perous villages and rocky gorges ; and the 
mind is lost in wonder that the skill of man 
should have placed it in one's power to witness 
such magnificent panoramas with ease and com- 
fort." 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 



CHAPTER II. 

Hotel on Wheels, July 24. 
Our first evening was pleasantly passed. 
With the generous entertainment of the 
Springfield Sir Knights as the natural topic of 
conversation, together with a discussion of the 
morrow's program, there was no particular 
dearth of speech. Everybody was merry and 
hopeful. Already we began to feel at home 
in our luxurious coaches, and passed from one 
to the other with the easy freedom and air of 
experienced travelers. Somebody started 
mathematical puzzles, then a number of pre- 
posterous conundrums were given out, a few 
had confidence enough in the good nature of 
the party to perpetrate a lot of bad puns, some 
displayed genuine wit in repartee, one or two 
ventured to sino;, and everybody laughed at the 
slightest provocation. It was a happy party, 
congenial and thoroughly friendly. The begin- 



ASLEEP? 

ning of our journey was delightfully auspi- 
cious. 

The ladies were given the exclusive use of 
their car at a fairly early hour and they claimed 
this morning that they all went to sleep with 
commendable promptitude. Of course, no 
one would doubt their entire veracity upon 
this subject, but their proud boasts came pain- 
fully close upon the heels of the complaints of 
the Sir Knights, who, it must be confessed, 
did not seek tired nature's sweet restorer until 
after midnight. A sleepless hour or so had 
passed when the mellifluous voice of the Judge 
broke the silence with " Say, they are switch- 
ing us to the rear," and the bumping and 
thumping wdiich followed proved the truth of 
his assertion. So at the end of the long train 
we were whirled aw^ay through the darkness 
tow^ard the St. Lawrence. It is known that 
three or four Sir Knights did sleep — ^the evi- 
dence was too sonorously conclusive to be dis- 
puted. That genial railroad man, Mr. Man- 

23 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

ning, remarked reassuringly, "They won't 
snore so after they get used to it." It is to be 
sincerely hoped that Mr. Manning is a genuine 
prophet. 

A cruel report is also current that there was 
snoring in the ladies' car. " Keep it dark." 

Just before 5 o'clock this morning the porter 
entered the car. " Wish you a merry Christ- 
mas," was the greeting of a sleepy Sir Knight. 
In a few minutes there was a scramble for the 
wash room, and our first day's life upon the 
rail was begun. 

Good Deacon Taylor, of Chicopee, became 
the center of an admiring group as he flour- 
ished a spiral looking instrument which some 
of the spectators called a corkscrew. What 
was he going to do with it, we wondered. Our 
curiosity was soon agreeably satisfied, for the 
little twisted piece of steel proved the open 
sesame, in the hands of the expert deacon, to 
a bottle of " Chicopee cider," an effervescing, 
sparkling, invigorating fluid, — so some of them 

24 



NE W ENGL A ND SCENE R Y. 

who tasted it said. The deacon is a great addi- 
tion to the party ; we can hardly he lonesome 
while he's around. 

The scenery on every side is very attractive, 
a narrow valley shut in by peculiar hills ; in 
changing view a beautiful river with the 
romantic name " Winooski," successions of 
sharp rolls, rugged rocks, small cultivated fields, 
here and there a neat house, deep gorges, shady 
ravines, inviting little nooks, and over and 
amid all, the light curling mist assuming weird 
fantastic shapes pierced by the level shafts of 
the rising sun. Freshness, attractiveness and 
loveliness everywhere. Approaching St. Albans 
the view widens occasionally ; a far-reaching 
stretch ; then beautiful Magnam bay flashes 
back the glory of the rising sun. About St. 
Albans the country is somewhat flat. We 
skirt the shore of Lake Champlain and can 
only be induced to turn from the charms with- 
out by the counter-charms of a tip-top break- 
fast, evolved by some species of magic from 

25 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

the inner-consciousness of the tiny quarters 
where the cooks reign supreme. Such cooks ! 
Our tables were up to the mark of first-class 
hotel-fare. The early day is beautiful. Ample 
justice is done and a lately hungry party dis- 
perses for diversion pleased and satisfied. 
These cars of the Worcester Excursion Car 
Company prove to be perfect in all their ap- 
pointments. What frolics we enjoyed ! A 
Sir Knight is seated at the piano. Songs, 
choruses and impromptu rounds with a grand 
jig executed by Sir Knight John Coe (he is a 
high stepper), bring out peals of merry laugh- 
ter. We glance betimes at finely cultivated 
farms, the busy haymakers — the clustering 
happy faces at the homes we swiftly pass. The 
view is cut off now and then by seemingly 
interminable trains of freight cars. Still the 
landscape widens, shut in by the distant moun- 
tain tops. We are blessed with delightfully 
cool weather this morning. Let us hope it is 
as cool at home as we find it here in Canada. 

26 



AtONTREAL. 

We reach Montreal, with its narrow, tortu- 
ous streets and wide, shady avenues, substantial 
and slow-going, with costly buildings and 
queer old rookeries. We visit Mount Royal, 
from which the city takes its name and look on 
the grand panorama, famous as it is rare. 

Frotti the Itinerary. 

" Upon the approach to Montreal the train 
passes through the tube of the famous Mctoria 
Bridge. This great structure is one and a 
quarter miles in length, or, with its approaches, 
nearly one and three-quarter miles, and cost 
nearly seven millions of dollars. The tube for 
the railway is sixty feet above the summer 
level of the St. Lawrence River, and rests on 
twenty-four piers, which are placed two hun- 
dred and forty-two feet apart, except in the 
centre, where the span is three hundred and 
thirty feet. The view of the Canadian me- 
tropolis is very fine, the city occupying the 
beautiful slopes of Mount Royal. Among the 
prominent objects seen are the twin towers of 

27 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Notre Dame, the dome of the Bonsecours 
Market, Christ Church Cathedral, the unfin- 
ished St. Peter's Cathedral, McGill College, 
and several mammoth Catholic hospitals and 
educational institutions, including the Grey 
Nunnery, or L'Hopital General de les Soeures 
Crises. After leaving Montreal the railway 
skirts the north bank of the River St. Law- 
rence for a long distance, affording many 
glimpses of the great stream, with its rapids 
and beautiful islands, St. Anne, Cornwall, 
Prescott, Brockville, Kingston and Cobourg 
are passed through before Toronto is reached." 



KIND FRIENDS. 



CHAPTER III. 



Hotel on Wheels, July 25. 
We were en route for Lachine at 5 i". ^l, 
embarking on the staunch steamer " Prince of 
Wales " for a pleasant sail down the St. Law- 
rence. " Shooting the rapids " is to a timid 
person quite an exciting trip. The broad 
surface boiling and seething from shore to 
distant shore, the slope of the river, the down- 
ward pitch of the prow, the sudden drop of the 
deck, the huge waves white with foam meet- 
ing the plunging craft again and again, the 
skill with which the men at the wheel turn 
her hither and thither, bringing the delighted 
passengers safely into the smoother waters 
below, combine to give zest and peculiar charm 
to running the rapids. We were accompanied 
by Sir Knight S. W. Cummings, general pas- 
senger agent of the Central Vermont, and S. 
W. Manning, New England agent of the 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. These gen- 
tlemen furnished carriages for a drive after the 
pleasant sail. They have done all in their 
power to make the pilgrimage of St. Elmo a 
success. Both have repeatedly visited Meriden. 
To their labors we owe our elegant itinerary, 
published and presented with the compliments 
of the roads over which we pass. Mr. Man- 
ning sent checks for our l)aggage and came to 
Meriden in person to start with us, and ac- 
companies us as far as Puel)lo, Colorado. We 
appreciate his wise suggestions and valuable 
services every day. To these two excellent 
gentlemen we owe a debt of gratitude, and 
can safely recommend to their hands any who 
may contemplate a visit to the Golden Gate. 

The evening l)rought a favor from the rail- 
road. We were given a special train from 
Montreal to Toronto, ^^yZ miles, an extra 
engine being furnished. The evening until 
our departure at lo o'clock was very pleasantly 
passed in our quarters in company with both 

30 



LAKE ONTARIO. 

the above mentioned gentlemen and other 
friends. Among our visitors we were glad to 
meet Miss Alice Porter, of Meriden. 

During the night each luxurious couch was 
occupied by a thoroughly sound sleeper. "The 
seven sleepers of Ephesus" were nowhere. By 
the way, our couches are 1 2 inches wider than 
the berths of an ordinary sleeping car. The 
morning of the 25th dawned cool and lovely. 
We were speeding through a farming region, 
so fine as to elicit expressions of surprise. On 
our left we soon descried the bright blue 
Ontario. The morning sunlight on its unruf- 
fled waters draws out long lines of varying 
shades, like unrolled ribbons. Here a narrow 
band of deep, dark blue and by its side a line 
of glimmering pearly white. A short stop at 
Cobourg calls up pleasant words concerning Sir 
Knight H. Wales Lines. He will appreciate 
the allusion. The view of New Castle as seen 
from the windows on our right is charming. 
The ladies having joked the Sir Knights on the 

31 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

subject of cigars, have procured a supply of 
chewing gum. The result no one can foresee. 

I have just heard a laughable incident 
connected with our ride to Mount Royal. Sir 
Knight John Coe mounted the driver's seat 
and as soon as the coachman had closed the 
door drove off at full speed. He kept the 
poor fellow to his best trotting time for quite 
a distance amid the cheers and jeers of the hack- 
men and others, w^ho appreciated the situation. 

To our genial traveling companion, who is 
a general favorite, we are again indebted. Mr. 
Manning has just furnished us carriages for a 
ride about Toronto. It is a beautiful city with 
noticeable quaint features. Its streets, finely 
laid out, generally at right angles, are broad 
and shaded. Plank sidewalks are universal 
and plank curbs general. College street, 200 
feet wide, long and straight, with lawns in the 
center and on each side, thick with fine trees 
and beds of flowers, leads to Queen's Park, 
which is large, pleasant and quaint. Horticul- 



TORONTO. 

tural garden with its splendid buildings is 
beautiful. Well kept grounds abound, and 
one is delighted at eveiy turn. The educa- 
tional institution is noticeable for its extensive, 
fine and elegant grounds. Here are seventy- 
eight churches and many very fine public build- 
ings. The churches are in the main exception- 
ally elegant and large. Several railroads center 
here. There is also a spacious bay and well- 
sheltered harbor. The site of the town was 
selected in 1 794 by Governor Simcoe and 
called York until 1834, at which time it became 
incorporated. It was the capital of Upper 
Canada till 1841. It was the site of the 
united government alternately with Quebec, 
from 1849 to 1858, and has been a capital of 
Ontario since 1867. 

In roaming about, Sir Knight Cook was 
pointed out as Webb, the swimmer. The news 
of the death of Captain Webb does not seem 
to have been received yet. Among the favors 
extended let me here mention a telegram from 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Pueblo, Col., inviting St. Elmo to attend a re- 
ception and banquet at the hands of the Pueblo 
Commandery. This day also came to hand a 
telegram from St. Elmo Commandery of 
Paola, Kan., to attend a reception and to break- 
fast with them at Kansas City. The St. Elmos 
of Paola travel 43 miles to Kansas City to ex- 
tend this knightly courtesy. They selected 
their name in our honor, and in token of ap- 
preciation ; our commandery upon receiving 
from Paola notification of this high honor, 
sometime since presented and forwarded an 
elegant "libation set." The parent accepts 
with great pleasure the compliment tendered. 
Between Toronto and Hamilton, Sir Knight 
John Coe was presented with a testimonal with 
appropriate speech-making. The Sir Knight 
has searched in vain for a Dude Hat. His 
friends found a parasol htted to be worn on 
the head, and surprised him by a public cor- 
onation. He declares he will wear it during 
the trip. It should be seen to be appreciated. 

34 



PLEASANT TRAVELING. 

At Toronto we were favored with a visit from 
Mr. John M. Blackburn, superintendent of 
the manufactory of the Meriden Silver Plate 
Company at this place, who lately removed 
here from Meriden. It is worthy of note that 
we have not suffered from heat and have no dust. 
Our windows are fitted with closely woven 
screens of very fine wire, but to-day these are 
out, as the fresh green grass close to the track 
prevents all trouble. There is abundant evi- 
dence of plentiful rains. 



35 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Hotel on Wheels, July 26. 
Our hotels are stationed for the night at the 
Canadian entrance of the supension bridge, 
where the air is tremulous with the ceaseless 
thunder of grand Niagara. We are met here 
by Mr. Wm. E. Hoyt, general passenger agent 
of the Chicago and Alton railroad, whom his 
friend Mr. Manning introduced to each mem- 
ber of the party. He has made ample arrange- 
ments for our comfort over his road. Our 
party scatters ; some go over to the American 
side and some visit the Clifton house on the 
Canadian side. The glory of the falls and the 
rapids dawns on each, and on some for the first 
time. W^e retire "in good order" with 
promise of an early breakfast. After experi- 
encing the sleep of the just, the first surprise 
of the day is the presentation of a fine cane to 
Sir Knight E. C. Birdsey. It was the gift of 

j6 



NIAGARA. 



Mr. Hoyt of the Chicago and Alton. Our 
breakfast comes on time, as usual. By the 
way, I must repeat : our meals are superb — 
the equal of those of the very best hotels. We 
sing the high praises of the Worcester Ex- 
cursion Car company for furnishing us two 
such cooks. Our three quatermasters, Sir 
Knights Coe, Cook and Strong, have sup- 
plied carefully selected material and these 
splendid cooks know exactly what to do with 
it. We find the carriage riding and sight-see- 
ing keep all hands employed until the hour for 
the rendezvous at our "home." 

How well the Iroquois named the world's 
wonder — "Niagara" — (Thunder of waters). 
No language can describe it. Two millions of 
tons hurled each minute down the fearful 
chasm. Every time one sees it the everlast- 
ing impression of the sublime deepens. Two 
suspension bridges span the boiling flood below 
the falls, and a third is well under way. W> 
visit the terrible whirlpool where the daring 

37 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Webb went down yesterday. From thence to 
the Burning Spring, at the head of the upper 
rapids, all is awfully grand. The illuminated 
fountains at evening in Prospect park are very 
beautiful. Our return to Hamilton, Ont., 
brings our record of miles up to 834. We find 
our friend John E. Parker, formerly of Meri- 
den, at present superintendent of the Meriden 
Britannia company's extensive branch factories 
located here. Stephen M. Russell and Charles 
C. Foot, formerlv of Meriden, also came to 
meet us at the depot. It is a great pleasure 
thus to meet old friends. En route again, 
speeding through the provinces towards Michi- 
gan, the party beguiles the time with games 
and conundrums ; some of the latter were 
original and occasioned much mirth. We are 
passing through a country at once presenting 
indications of newness and age. We find at 
London, Ont., more railroad cars than any of 
us ever saw at once. We meet wonderfully 
long trains of cattle. The weather is still cool 



FOR T ED WARD FERR Y. 

and dust is not troubling us. The presentation 
of an engraved napkin ring this afternoon 
called out peals of laughter. Our cars are so 
large that the entire party can easily be accom- 
modated in either. We are notified when there's 
fun ahead. The engraving upon this ring was 
done on the train. It is unique. This is de- 
cidedly a happy party, enjoying each passing 
hour. At last we reach Sarnia, on the river St. 
Clair. At Fort Edward our train is run out to 
an immense ferry boat. Seventy-two cars 
crossed in less than one hour. One hundred 
and eight cars can be ferried over per hour, 
each hour in the day. Just as we start 
across we are favored with a visit from W. H. 
Pettibone, general superintendent of Chicago 
and Grand Trunk railroad, accompained by R. 
Luttrell, superintendent at this point. The 
general superintendent came up from Chicago 
to meet us. We are promised every attention. 
Mr. Luttrell invited the entire party to ascend 
to the upper deck and directed attention to the 

39 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

chief points of interest "as we sailed." He has 
also referred to our Itinerary, and offers on our 
return trip a fishing expedition. He will fur- 
nish us with fine boats and all necessary tackle. 

At last having bidden the cross of St. 
George adieu we salute the beautiful stars and 
stripes. What loads of fun. We celebrate 
the occasion with games which make the roof 
ring. If hearty laughter promotes digestion, 
then good-bye dyspepsia. 

One half the entire width of the car being 
cleared we organize a grand ball, our useful 
companion Mr. Manning as prompter. There 
is no lack of exercise. We have room for 
eight couples and spectators. Among the 
musical instruments, quite an attraction is a tin 
pan and a shoe played with rare skill by His 
Honor Sir Knight Doolittle. Sir Knight 
Perkins also shows remarkable proficiency in 
his great skillet and knuckles act. We pro- 
pose to organize a minstrel troup, San Fran- 
cisco minstrels, jr. 

40 



COURT OF J C ST ICE. 

The announcement is made that the ladies' 
car is ready, and bidding them adieu we pro- 
ceeded to open court. Case follows case, and 
when Sir Knight Judge Coe comes in as an 
interested party, his honor the mayor occupies 
the wool-sack and dispenses "justice." The 
decisions of this court ought to go on record. 
There seems to be considerable chance-ry about 
it. Business is rushed and the docket cleared 
before turning in for the night. 

We are on a special train again with general 
superintendent Pettibone. St. Elmo is whirl- 
ed in advance of the regular, over the level 
line, a mile a minute. Great spikes, what a 
spin ! The speed is exciting. We can't sleep 
much, but most of us are a little ahead on sleep. 

The morning of the 27th shows us the 
eastern sky glowing as if it were the concave 
of a huge pearly shell. The air is delicious 
and we make ready for Chicago. 

The country is mainly a vast plain, the 
houses generally small. As we near Chicago we 

41 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

note the strange custom of planting a single row 
of trees around a small plot, enclosing a house 
and barn. These are mainly poplars and look 
lonesome in the hundreds of shrubless acres. 
Other trees grow finely. The dark rich foliage 
is proof that the entire region might be made a 
veritable garden of Eden. Near the city, cab- 
bage patches are seen by the square mile. 
There's a pretty shepherdess leaning on her mop. 
But I must stop, for here is Chicago. 

Our route has crossed the state of Michigan 
and the upper portion of Indiana. 



42 



BRAIDWOOD. 



CHAPTER V. 



Hotel on Wheels, July 27. 

At Chicago we are met by Mr. James 
Charlton, general passenger and ticket agent 
of the Chicago and Alton railroad, and Mr. 
John M. Gates, general traveling agent of the 
same road, both residents of Chicago. These 
gentlemen will accompany our party over 
their railroad to Kansas City. They had set 
aside one of their luxurious dining palace cars 
and invited the knights and their ladies to a 
sumptuous repast. They have also put into 
our lockers a fine present for the party. We 
are off during a shower which settles the dust 
question effectually. 

In crossing the state of Illinois we pass 
through Braidwood, where the Diamond mine 
disaster occurred recently. It remains to-day 
as at the close of the ineffectual attempts to 
find the bodies of the miners. The road over 

■/J 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

which we pass has a branch of loo miles run- 
ning through the coal district. The Chicago 
and Alton passes through an attractive region. 
There is more of variety in the landscape. 
We pass through fields of corn sometimes ex- 
tending as far as the eye can reach in either 
direction from the track. Trees of various 
kinds abound and the land is productive. East 
from Chicago there are no towns within forty 
miles on any of the railroad lines. One line 
runs fifty-seven miles before reaching a town. 
The land is not only flat but inclined to be 
marshv. West from Chicao^o one strikes towns 
at once. The management of the Chicago 
and Alton is in striking contrast with that of 
many roads. The regular train to which our 
cars are attached consists of an elegant smok- 
ing car, one day-coach, two reclining-chair 
cars, one Pullman sleeper and one dining-car. 
The reclining-chair cars are worthy of note. 
There is room for forty-four passengers. The 
chairs can be easily set at any desired angle. 

44 



CHICAGO AND ALT OX. 

For reclining, the top of the back comes for- 
ward, forming an easy pillow for the head. 
Having reclined, I am able to state that they 
are the easiest car seats in the world. For 
these this company makes to passengers no 
extra charge — think of that ! In each car is 
also a smoking room, and a cosy wash room 
with every convenience. The coupling is 
double and absolutely proof against telescoping. 
In the delightful reclining chair cars of the 
Chicago and Alton one can travel to Kansas City 
with less of weariness than an ordinary car would 
cause in one-fourth the distance. The dinins; car 
is the prettiest and most complete I ever saw. 
The railroad managers here know how to do 
things. 

Near Bloomington the country becomes a 
little rolling. Hedges of Osage orange are 
seen, adding materially to the attractiveness 
of the landscape, which is not only diversified 
but bright flowers are blooming along the 
track. The town of Normal is very pretty, 

45 



TOUR OF rilE ST. ELMO'S. 

and is the seat of the Normal schools and of 
the State University. It might be a beautiful 
town were it not for the very apparent lack of 
public spirit. The cars of the Chicago and 
Alton railroads are all built by the railroad 
company and the manufactories located at 
Bloomington are remarkable for solidity. 
The immensity of the company's works may 
be judged by the fact that their pay-roll here 
is over $100,000 a month. The officers of the 
Chicago and Alton at Bloomington, placed on 
our car two large crates of fruit for the party. 
Our ladies say that the people think a good 
deal of Connecticut. Six large and beautiful 
bouquets are also brought on board to adorn 
our tables. Their fragrance fills the air. Later 
the gentleman waiters from the Chicago and 
Alton dining car pin a button-hole bouquet to 
the coat of each Sir Knight and present one to 
each lady just before we are called to our even- 
ing repast. At Bloomington, in boring for 
coal, at the depth of two hundred feet, an un- 

46 



KAXSAS. 



derground river was struck. A stand pipe and 
pumping apparatus was erected and pipes to 
distribute water. It is of excellent quality 
and ample in quantity. At Greenville we dis- 
cover a huge hill of refuse from the coal mines 
on fire ; a case of spontaneous combustion. 

From Itinerary. 

" The Chicago and Alton railroad is the 
short line between Chicago and Kansas City, 
and is equipped with the finest cars in the 
world. Leaving Chicago the road traverses 
some of the most prosperous parts of Illinois 
and Missouri, passing through the following 
cities : Joliet, Bloomington and Jacksonville 
in Illinois; Louisiana, Mexico, Glasgow and 
Marshall in Missouri. The Mississippi River 
is crossed at Louisiana, and the Missouri River 
at Glasgow, Mo., by magnificent iron bridges. 

" Kansas City is a large and busy city of 
about 65,000 inhabitants, on the Missouri side 
of the line, and one of the most important rail- 
road centers in America. Some of its srreat 



47 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

business enterprises, like the great trans-con- 
tinental railway line which stretches westward, 
owe their existence largely to Boston capital. 
While riding through Kansas the traveler finds 
that many familiar New England names have 
been bestowed upon towns by the way, one of 
the earliest of which is Lawrence, so called in 
honor of Amos Lawrence, of Boston. Topeka, 
the capital of Kansas, is 66 miles west of 
Kansas City," 

-The main line of the A., T. cSl S. F. R. R. 
extends a distance of no less than 486 miles 
within the borders of this great State. The 
surface of the State embraces in alternation 
broad, level valleys and high, rolling prairies, 
with a gradual rise towards the Rocky Moun- 
tains. The eastern section is well settled and 
is devoted largely to wheat and corn. The 
western section, with the neighboring parts of 
Colorado and Nebraska, is given up chiefly to 
cattle grazing. Dodge City, 369 miles w^est of 
Kansas City, is the chief center of the cattle 

4S 



COLORADO. 



business. The route in passing out of Kansas 
enters Colorado, which it traverses for a con- 
siderable distance. The Rocky Mountains 
here come into view." 



49 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Hotel on Wheels, July 28. 
We crossed the Illinois river in the early 
hours of the night, and about midnight were 
passing over the wonderful bridge spanning 
the broad Mississippi. Several of the Sir 
Knicrhts stood in the doors of the cars to look 
upon the mighty " Father of waters." The 
morning sun smiles on the hills and dales of 
Missouri. The cars free from dust, the morn- 
ing cool and delicious, and the sweet sleep of 
the night prepares us for the heat which the 
noon-hour may perhaps have in store. We 
speed along the iron road towards Kansas City. 
Glendale is passed, where a short stop enables 
us to look "upon the water tank showing the 
bullet marks of the Jesse James fight. Here 
the train was in the clutches of the gang. All 
seem to enjoy the immunity which Jesse James' 
retirement from business affords. 



ST. ELMO OF PA OLA. 

At Independence a committee from St. 
Elmo Commandery No. 22, of Paola, Kan., 
came on board. Introductions are in order, 
and on reaching Kansas City we meet the dele- 
gation sent to this point : Sir D. M. Ferguson, 
E. C, Sir J. F. Donahue, Gen. Sir H. C. 
Jones, C. G., Sir John Wherrell, Prel., Sir J. 
B. Jobson, S. W., Sir J. S. Beason, J. W., 
Judge Sir W. R. Wagstaff, Sir A. K. Sellers, 
Sir J. W. Rumby, and Sir J. L. Pettyjohn. 
With these fraters is Hon. Sir Knight Plumb, 
United States Senator from Kansas, and a 
warm friend of Hon. Sir Knight the Senator, 
O. H. Piatt, of our own city. A telegram 
reaches us here from E. Sir Knight H. Wales 
Lines congratulating the two St. Elmo com- 
manderies on this meeting. We are escorted 
to a breakfast in the immense building which is 
the depot for seventeen great lines. Then the Sir 
Knights and their ladies repair at once to our 
cars, accompained by Sir C. H. Wood, general 
agent of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

and Sir H. E. Moss, passenger and land agent. 
The speeches are short, but the feehng is deep 
and the friendships here cemented strong. 
The St. Ehnos of Paola, Kansas, came forty- 
three miles yesterday to meet us at the threshold 
of their state. They are named after us and the 
two commandries feel the deepest interest each 
in the other's welfare. Good-byes are said, 
one Paola Sir Knight puts it thus in Missouri 
parlance : 

" It's hard for jou'uns and we'uns to part, 

When you'uns know that 30iruns have got we'iinses' lieart." 

Senator Plumb accompanies us on our trip, 
and Sir Knight William H. Decker, of Las 
Vegas commandery, also comes among us at 
this point. We are met here by Sir Knight 
Max Frost, eminent commander of Santa Fe 
commandery, who is chairman of a committee 
to extend to us the hospitalities of his com- 
mandery. This Sir Knight also becomes a 
member of our party. He is Register of the 
United States land office. It is a pleasant 



THE KA W. 



party swiftly skirting the shore of the Kaw and 
tearing away towards the wonderful corn-fields 
of eastern Kansas, corn so high as to hide a 
mounted horseman and fields too extensive to 
limit by the sweep of the eye. The town of 
Meriden is on the line of the Atchison, Topeka 
and Santa Fe railroad, not far from Kansas 
City. 

Kansas City is on the south side of the 
Missouri river. After leaving this city, we 
cross the line into the great state of Kansas. 
We are peculiarly fortunate in the selection of 
the route. The Kansas City people declare 
unhesitatingly the Atchison, Topeka and Santa 
Fe railroad is decidedly the best of the seventeen 
lines which radiate from this center ; steel rails 
throughout its length, 2289 miles, stone ballast- 
ing, best cars, best hotels on the route, which 
by the way are all owned by the Atchison, 
Topeka and Santa Fe, best eating-houses, and 
Manning says the best looking set of men in 
the world. Judging by the specimens seen, 

S3 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

including our friend Manning, the facts bear 
out the assertion. " He is just as good as he 
looks, too." " So say we all of us — so say we 
all." We admire the new depot at Lawrence, 
the historic city. How fertile the soil is ! Sir 
Knight Mather says he has seen corn enough 
to feed the world. It is a delightful land, low 
hills heavily timbered, level fields which are 
gigantic gardens, and fruit trees in their lusty 
youth surprising their owners by the size of 
their productions. We watch a diminutive 
ferry taking its precious load over the muddy 
waters of the Kaw (or Kansas) river ; a broad 
scow, on board a vehicle with its single horse, 
the mother calmly seated, carefully shielding 
her darling from the rays of the sun (a future 
statesman, perhaps president, they all come 
from the West), standing at the fore, evidently 
ready to do and to dare, two little folks cud- 
dled together near the wheel, and the strong 
man with brawny bare arms wielding a pole 
longer than the spire of the Corner church. 

J4 



rOPEKA. 

Now we sweep by fields again with corn to the 
right of us, corn to the left of us. " Pretty' 
tall corn." 

At Topeka, Mr. Manning points out the 
extensive works of the Atchison, Topeka and 
Santa Fe railroad. Topeka, i,ooo feet above 
sea level, has a population of 20,000, half of 
them said to be good looking women. All 
the state offices are located here, with fine 
public buildings. We have lost the trees; 
the heavily wooded hills we saw further east 
are not to be found. It is a treeless country 
except so far as a few are planted here and 
there. Near Osage City we come upon the 
coal regions. In this section it is found near 
the surface and is a dull looking, soft, smoky 
fuel. This sort of country must make a man 
long sighted, yet it is beautifully rolling, and 
corn and then more corn. Lon Jeffcry says 
the sight of this goodly land elicited from good 
brother Joseph Morse the words "The Sheen 
of Queba." We are shown by Senator Plumb 

55 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

the farm of his brother, 2,000 acres, lying on 
both sides of the track. At long intervals 
some railroad conductor steps in. We note 
they each remove the hat. Some one remarks, 
" What a contrast ! Here they take off the 
hat ; at home they come in with a club." 

Emporia, with its four railroads, its beauti- 
ful wide streets and its substantial buildings, 
is a lively town. It possesses for us a peculiar 
interest, being the home of Senator Plumb, 
who has chatted so pleasantly while riding sixty 
miles in our car. He kindly points out his 
fine residence at our request, and shaking 
hands all round bids us God-speed and good- 
bye. 

We do not see any lonesome hay stacks. 
They are placed in families, immense stacks, 
frequently thatched, bunched together, looking 
in the distance like a cluster of great brown 
tents. 

Beyond Emporia the prairies widen a\vay 
interminably. Stony City presents a lively 

J6 



" THING OF BE A UTY." 

sight. Its stock yards are full of colts ; hun- 
dreds of them. On the fences are long rows 
of chaps, and others standing picturesquely 
around, bent on trade. The cars of the St. 
Elmo's become immediately the great attrac- 
tion and all necks are stretched and twisted to 
get a sight. Just beyond, the prairie-plows are 
turning up the furrows black as muck. 

The regular excursion ticket furnished by 
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, is a 
" thing of beauty." It is in book form bound 
at the end and illuminated with Knight 
Templar emblems in gold ; on the covers 
an original design in brilliant colors giving a 
view of the Golden Gate with the legend, " An 
ocean sounding welcome to the Knights." The 
loading of a wagon by machinery in a grain 
field now attracts attention. We see broad 
wheat fields, also large herds of cattle. One 
of the ladies quotes, " A thousand cattle on a 
hill." Prairie chickens put in an appearance. 
Near the streams a few plover and a few long- 

S7 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

legged blue heron have been seen. Windmills 
are everywhere. Gangs of plow boys seated 
on the wheeled plows drawn by three horses, 
make things lively where the "tickled soil" 
will shortly laugh with harvest burden. Think 
of straight furro.ws more than a mile in length. 
We have passed Florence, at which point the 
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe enters "the 
happy hunting grounds." We are told that 
prairie chickens and quail are abundant in the 
fields, and the streams and small lakes abound 
in duck and geese. " Twenty minutes for 
refreshments," the well known cry ! We are 
at Newton, a lively town of 5,000 inhabitants. 
Our friend Manning had telegraphed ahead 
and invited the entire party to dine. The 
dining room is one of many owned by this tip- 
top company and is as nicely fitted up as the 
dinner is complete. So our cooks and waiters 
are given a respite while the favor accorded 
the party is enjoyed. The terrible heat proph- 
esied for this day's ride has not cost us any 



INTO COLORADO. 

4. 

appreciable discomfort. This little town has 
its commandery, Newton, No. 9 ; eighty mem- 
bers ! A delegation appears and welcomes us. 
We exchange hasty greetings and speed away 
tow^ard the Golden Gate. Beyond Newton the 
level reaches are astonishers. We can see twenty 
miles aw^ay, the surface like a floor, presenting 
the various lines of immense tracts of different 
crops, all fertile as a garden. Near Newton 
we pass the first emigrant wagon, suggestive 
of the olden time. 

Hutchinson, the county seat, has a remark- 
ably wide street, which presents a fine appear- 
ance. We notice door yard fences, which are 
quite an innovation. Why are not all the streets 
laid out wide ? Surely there's room enough. 
At Nickerson we strike the Arkansas river. 
The repair shops of the Atchison, Topeka and 
Santa Fe employ a large number of men. It 
is a full grown town just five years old last 
September. Here is a very large round-house 
strongly built of stone. A telegram from Mr. 

59 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

W. F. White, general passenger" and ticket 
agent, to Mr. Manning, acquaints us with the 
pleasing fact that Mr. Charles T. Parsons has 
received telegraphic instruction to accompany 
the party on our return from Denver to Peublo 
and Santa Fe or Deming. We ride beside the 
Arkansas river for a distance of 700 miles into 
Colorado. 

The ladies are enjoying the long journey 
with the keenest relish. No one is weary and 
all are delighted with the' " solid comfort " this 
mode of traveling affords. 



60 



LA JUNTA. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Hotel on Wheels, July 29. 

The gray dawn discloses level plains, with 
here and there on the right a silvery sugges- 
tion of the flowing Arkansas. Just as the 
glowing disk pours floods of golden glory over 
all, we note the slackening speed, and lo, La 
Junta. 

The little place is very pretty. Two tiny 
lawns between the track and the neatly painted 
depot, give the impression of oases really re- 
freshing. Several of the buildings near are 
the property of the Atchison, Topeka and 
Santa Fe, and are neat and pretty. Here they 
have also built a large stone round-house. 
Just beyond the station we are given hints of 
coming changes. A perpendicular bank is 
passed, and further on an infant canon has 
been suddenly stopped in the midst of its 
gyratory convolutions. We are informed that 

61 



rOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

these sand dunes and plains need only irriga- 
tion. 

Between La Junta and Pueblo the principal 
productions seem to be sage brush, cactus, 
jack-rabbits and prairie dogs. Judge of our 
surprise on learning that here is excellent 
grazing ground. In fact, on many ranches 
there are large herds. One can hardly believe 
the fine condition of the cattle and horses is 
due to the quality of the " feed." Our break- 
fast is served and at an early hour we reach 
Pueblo. This city must be seen to be appre- 
ciated. We shall return to it. At this point 
we are met by- Sir Knight J. B. Kilbourn and 
wife, who present our ladies with two mag- 
nificent bouquets. Sir Knight Kilbourn was 
formerly resident at Middletown, Conn., and is 
a personal friend of many of our party. He 
was at one time Grand Generalissimo of Con- 
necticut. With him also came an eminent Sir 
Knight, Colonel M. H. Fitch, Grand Com- 
mander of Colorado. He is president of the 

62 



THE " SCENIC ROl'TEr 

Stock Growers' National Bank ; also Sir 
Knight J. W. Stanton, Past Grand Commander, 
a congressman and a personal friend of Sir 
Knight H. Wales Lines. He is postmaster 
at Pueblo ; also Sir Knight H. N. Banks, 
E. C., of Pueblo commandery. Sir Knight 
J. B. Kilbourn and wife join us for a few days, 
and we are notified of a reception awaiting us 
on our return. 

Our ride during the night was a restful one, 
the line being level, straight and smooth. One 
Sir Knight said this morning, " The Atchison, 
Topeka and Santa Fe is the best railroad I 
have ever seen." I believe it. We leave for 
Denver over the Denver and Rio Grande, 
known as "the Scenic Route." What these 
words mean, only those know who have looked 
upon these scenes. Pike's Peak lifts its snow- 
clad summit through the blue mists and we 
begin to realize that we are far from home. 
This mountain is 14,216 feet above the sea- 
level — almost three miles in an upright line. 

6? 



rOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Pueblo is 4,713 feet in altitude and the grade 
is up until' we reach the " Divide," at which 
point we are more than a thousand feet higher 
than the top of Mount Washington. I have 
spoken of the rich, nutritious quality of the 
grass. Sir Knight Kilbourn states that one 
hundred weight of it is equal to three of east- 
ern grass. Sir Knight John W. Coe casually 
remarks that " the cream is a thick coat before 
they have done milking." 

The day is cool and the car windows are all 
open, yet no dust, owing to the recent rains. 
Colorado Springs is a lovely place, and is a 
temperance town. Not a drop of liquor is 
sold and none can be, the land being deeded 
conditionally in this regard. The Antler house 
is a very fine building and splendidly located. 
Here at the "Divide" is a fine artificial lake 
with a fountain playing in its center. It is the 
highest point. We have climbed 3,000 feet 
since leaving Pueblo, and the city of Denver is 
2,000 feet lower. A stop of twenty minutes 

64 



THE ROCKIES. 

enables us to wash our hands in this lofty little 
lake. A run of a single rod to reaeh the start- 
ing train makes one pant, for 7,200 feet is 
pretty well up for breath. The atmosphere is 
dry. We have on our way passed such queer 
little houses, some adobe, some board shanties, 
some log huts, all small, little queer houses 
from which the family step out into scenes 
of grandeur. 

From Colorado Springs the scenery is un- 
deniably fine. We cannot take our eyes from 
the new beauties disclosed at every turn. Now 
and then fantastic forms appear; huge masses, 
some near, some a score of miles away ; 
strange, weird, castellated rocks. The air is 
marvelously transparent. In the blue of the 
far away haze, great chains of lofty mountain 
peaks are piled among the clouds. Steep es- 
carpments, rugged canons, mighty masses 
like castle walls, over and among which black 
shadows of fleeting clouds lose themselves in 
the blacker shades of beetling cliffs. A rain 

65 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Storm sweeps down the mountain sides miles 
upon miles away. The nearer foot-hills are 
clad in their verdure while the foreground, 
brilliant with many-hued flowers, swarms with 
saucy little prairie dogs. Close to the track a 
mountain stream winds along with its margin 
of cotton-wood and pine. At last the wonder- 
ful gateway to the Garden of the Gods comes 
into view. 

We reach Denver on time and take carriages 
for St. James hotel. Here we rest. Sunday 
in this w^onderful city is a surprise to us. The 
places of business are all closed excepting the 
Jew stores. Liquor saloons are in full blast, 
yet the streets are quiet. The churches are all 
well filled. The evening service is enjoyed by 
the Sir Knights and their ladies. Denver is a 
marvel. A score of years and a wild, lonely 
spot, becomes a beautiful city of 70,000 inhabi- 
tants, with magnificent buildings. The rail- 
road depot built of lava stone and light sand- 
stone trimmings, extorted the admiration of 

66 



AT DENVER 



Vanderbilt. We find by experience that 
slight exertion here calls for rest, but one 
becomes readily accustomed to the elevation. 
On Monday some of the party will visit the 
Exposition buildings and all go sight-seeing. 
Senator Tabor, Sir Knight M. Splangler, 
sheriff of Denver, Sir C. H. Gunn, formerly 
of Danbury, Connecticut, Sir R. M. Wallace, 
General of South Carolina Commandery of 
Charleston, S. C, Sir D. Downing, vice-presi- 
dent of the Invincible Mining Company, 
Eminent Sir C. H. Sherman, Commander of 
Dunkirk Commandery, of Dunkirk, N. Y., 
Eminent Sir G. W. Bence, Eminent Com- 
mander of Greencastle, Ind., and very many 
other Sir Knights are met. The best trip of 
a single day is through the Clear Creek Canon 
to Central City. 

On Monday we start early via the narrow 
gauge railroad for Central City. Leaving 
Denver, itself " marvelous as a dream," in a 
special observation car kindly furnished us, we 

67 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

are gratified on learning that we are to have 
the company of a Sir Knight who is thorough- 
ly acquainted with the route. He is Past 
Grand Commander of Colorado — Sir Knight 
H. M. Orahood, an attorney of the Union 
Pacific and the law partner of Secretary of 
the Interior, Sir Knight H. M. Teller. He 
is Eminent Commander of Central City Com- 
mandery, No. 2. (Jur route crosses the Platte. 
We pass Argo and the famous smelting works 
of Senator Hill, the largest works of the kind 
in the world. The better class gold ores of 
Colorado, Montana and Idaho are shipped 
here and to Denver and Golden for smelting. 
We cross the moving Longmont train on a 
bridge over their track. Our course is the arc 
of an immense circle until we strike the rapid 
waters of Clear Creek. Up, up, towards 
Golden, with Long's and Pike's Peak in view. 
A pretty ranch now attracts attention. This 
is a Spanish word signifying a place for cattle. 
There are no farms here ; all are ranches. 

68 



CLEAR CREEK CANON. 

Wc reach Golden. Distance, sixteen miles, 
altitude, 5,710, population, 3,300. Here is a 
very fine Court-house. A large and elegant 
building also is the State School of Mines. 
The State Reform School is fine and sugforests 
our distant home. The photograph of the 
Grand Army is offered here for sale, and Sir 
Knight John Coe will take it on condition 
that he can have St. Elmo's. Judge of his 
countenance when gravely informed that the 
plate is broken in attempting the picture. 
Mr. Wooster, treasurer of Deep River Savings 
bank, of Connecticut, comes on the train to 
greet us. We are near the entrance to Clear 
Creek Canon. The toy railroad sweeps round 
a curve between high rounded mountains and 
in a trice we find ourselves climbing a fearful 
grade, the railroad winding like a serpent on 
a drunk in a narrow gorge amid rugged crags 
a thousand feet in height. All is wild, yet de- 
lightful. We run right straight toward a per- 
pendicular wall, and as we are about to strike, 

,6g 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

the little locomotive pokes its nose to one side 
and we are whipped around a sharp curve, all 
on the up hill principle. We are beside a foam- 
ing stream which is also all the time " on a 
bender." How on earth did a railroad ever get 
lost in this narrow chasm ? 

At one of the stops on a siding where breath- 
ing room for the engine is found, some of our 
party jump off and go to prospecting. An old 
resident gleefully laughs and says with face all 
aglow : " It is worth a pile to see the wonder 
on every countenance in here." On and up 
we speed. Impossible curves and bends in 
impossible places ! Every rod a totally differ- 
ent view ! All grand, all wonderful. The rush 
of the plucky little engine mingles with the 
roar of the twisting cataract beside it. Nar- 
• row gorges at sharp angles come down every- 
where. The mountains try to get over our 
heads, and make it out. If they should fall 
just ahead no harm could ensue for the train 
wouldn't be there. The track gets tangled 

70 



HANGING ROCK. 



with the creek, and finally gets the better of it. 
We see the poor creek underneath. It will 
keep the other side of the train perhaps. We 
notice pretty falls, and just beyond an old ruin- 
ed bridge leading to a tunnel. We pass dug- 
outs and queer huts, and as the squirming train 
threatens to "get ev^en " with the engine we 
come across placer miners. 

May, 1859, saw the first of that work in this 
part of the country. It would be interesting 
to watch it, but there's too much to see. 
There's the engineer close to us, looking ahead 
by twisting his neck to see both sides of the 
engine at once. Hanging Rock gets right 
over our heads. All along the sides we keep 
in view wild frightened looking pines, losing 
their lives in a vain attempt to maintain an ex- 
istence. Here we pass a huge mass of rock 
supported by a bracing timber; it almost 
touches the passing car. The colors of these 
rocks are varied, but generally sombre. If 
aerial navigation permits, some future botanist 

71 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

may add new beauties to his collection in this 
gorge. The walls close in, we strain our necks 
to look up and out. No room for so many in 
here, so the railroad struggles with the stream 
and at last both take u]) with the same bed. 
The retaining walls of the road are staunch 
and men are here everywhere watching it. 

The mountain on one side recedes, leaving a 
small place in the heart of which stands a 
strange pillar of rugged stone. The train 
crawls up into new wonders. We shoot around 
a corner of a perpendicular rock ; on the top, 
high in air, a lofty pine springs from its ex- 
treme edge. Here is a wider space with a min- 
er's camp. The chasm widens with sloj)ing 
sides. We take deep inspirations of the free air 
in the open space. Wonderful domes close in 
on one side ; then suddenly the merciless walls 
surround us. A sharp turn leads out to lovely 
open spaces between receding mountain tops, 
seamed and gashed by countless chasms. At 
6904 feet altitude a fork in the canon sends one 

73 



" THEM'S MINES. 

tortuous railroad to Georgetown and another to 
Central City. A pretty depot nestles beneath 
the crags. Central City being a temperance 
town this station is said to be for lager, coal 
and water. The rain begins to sift down as we 
commence our winding way. We notice num- 
erous holes burrowing in the sides of the 
mountain. A lovely girl seated near us who 
says she is from Pennsylvania, parts her ruby 
lips and imparts the information, "Them's 
mines." 

Standing in the swift waters, three miners 
are washing out the gold. Flere, as we ascend, 
the rounded ])eaks, opens a wide expanse of 
sky. The sands are pitted, channeled and 
seamed for the precious })articles. Chinese 
characters appear over the doors of the log 
huts. Our guide informs us that the China- 
men live wxll. Their pay is $45 per month. 
They "keep house," using rice, with quantities 
of fine meat and vegetables and always have 
confections brought from China. The wash- 

73 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

ing for gold pays where not previously done. 
The grade is steep and the rocks again close 
in and almost touch us on either side. Tun- 
nels abound, and also abandoned smelting 
works. The great establishments below can 
procure fuel while these cannot. We reach 
the end of placer mining ; we pass the first 
quartz mill. The first smelting works were 
put up here by Senator Hill. Golden, at the 
mouth of the caiion, is the outgrowth of this 
small beginning. General Fitz John Porter 
built the second works. We reach Black 
Hawk. It is impossible to tell where this min- 
ing town ends and Central City begins, yet the 
railroad runs four miles to Central City. It is 
a very high point to reach. The train is sent 
out on a back switch like the letter V, then 
another V sends us up again till we can look 
straight down on the three tracks, the highest 
300 feet above the lower. The four miles ad- 
vances us only one. We are " up in the world " 
8,300 feet, two thousand feet and more above 

74 



CENTRAL CITY. 

Mount Washington. The air up here does 
not seem to satisfy. One can get tired easily. 
However, when accHmated it is just as fit for 
hard work foundation. Up this " scarey " 
cHmb we were pushed. Sir Knight Orahood 
shows us his mountain home. Senator Hill 
and Secretary Teller also have homes here. 
We cross an iron bridge far above the houses ; 
a lofty trestle lifts itself right over an exten- 
sively worked mine. The mountain sides liter- 
ally honeycombed w^th mines and the railroad 
climbing recklessly, combine to produce a rare 
scene. " It's the greatest thing I ever thought 
of," says one Sir Knight. 

We find carriages in waiting which Sir 
Knight Orahood has provided by telegraphing. 
At the Teller house w^e are introduced to Sir 
John Best and Sir E. S. Clinton. A capital 
dinner is provided, and we visit the banks to 
look at gold. One piece worth $2,700 is in 
sight. Some purchase specimens, and all are 
kindly shown the yellow treasures. We are 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

taken to the oldest mine, "The Bobtail," so 
called because its original productions wrapped 
in a bullock's hide were drawn to the smelting 
works by a bobtailed ox. We walk to the ex- 
treme end with Sir Knight Best, half a mile in- 
to the bowels of the earth and 1,200 feet under 
the surface. Rich specimens are gathered, and 
on our return Sir Knight Clinton takes us 
through a stamp mill running one hundred 
stamps. Then we are conducted to his own 
mill which he orders stopped and his workmen 
clear off the sand, remove the copper sheets 
covered with quicksilver and show us how the 
amalgam is collected, and how it is retorted till 
the gold is obtained ready for market. 

Good-byes are said at last. Our walk having 
taken us down to the upper mouth of the 
canon, we take the observation car again and 
into the narrow, tortuous cleft madly plunges 
the train, with a sense of absolute security on 
our part. In the line drizzling rain the rugged 
walls reach above the clouds. The river by our 

76 



THE "CLOUD-BCIRST." 

side is a series of tumbling rapids. Down the 
steep incline we glide, wheeling and twining at 
break-neck speed. This is the rainy season of 
Colorado, and an exciting episode is a cloud- 
burst in the mountain range at our right. A 
side canon, which was dry on our upward trip 
sent down great volumes of black angry floods 
just as we reached the place. The track was 
flooded instantly and the debis floating every- 
where on the swift waters, called a halt. Men 
went ahead feeling the track. We slowly 
passed, the road bed showing by its dropping 
in places that a wash-out would necessitate re- 
pairs, and the track was swept away just after 
we passed. Safely over, we turn back to note 
how the clear creek is dammed up and set back 
by the impetuous rush across it. 

What a sight ! The torrents plunge amid 
the rocks, throwing the dashing spray afar. 
How the waters pile up and leap down the 
wild gorge ! We rush along in a mad, wild 
race and the engine seems to enjoy the sport. 

77 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

We threaten to dash with the cataract against 
some beethng chff and with the angry waters 
we swiftly turn to meet some new obstruction. 
All is indescribably grand. We "took that in" 
just in time. Finally the lofty battlements re- 
cede. High, sloping cloud-capped mountains 
environ us ; then, underneath perpendicular 
walls and overhanging crags accompanied every- 
where by the wild torrent, we curve along un- 
til at last the rounded mountains dwarf to hills 
on either side, and so we bid adieu to Clear 
Creek Canon. 

From Itinerary. 

" The city of Denver lies at an altitude of 
5197 feet, near the western border of the plains, 
within 12 miles of the Rocky Mountains, the 
Colorado or Front range of which may be seen 
for an extent of over 200 miles. The view of 
the snowy summits, with Pike's Peak in the 
southern part of the range and Long's Peak in 
the north, is indescribably grand. The " Queen 
City of the Plains " was born of the Pike's 

7^ 



DEN VER. 

Peak gold excitement in 1858-9. In i860 it 
was a struggling camp, consisting principally 
of log cabins and tents. In 18 70 it had a pop- 
ulation of 4579 ; in 1880 of 35,719 ; and within 
the succeeding year over 600 buildings were 
erected, and the population increased to over 
40,000. Its streets are regularly and hand- 
somely laid out ; its public and business edifices 
and its private residences are elegant and sub- 
stantial ; schools, churches and newspapers 
abound, and in short, Denver has every sign of 
thrift, enterprise, wealth and progress. The 
new Union Depot is one of the finest edifices 
for railway uses in America, and the magnifi 
cent new opera house, which cost $600,000, is 
another structure which will challenge admira- 
tion. 

" The Garden of the Gods is a park-like tract 
enclosed by hills, and rising from its surface 
are fantastic rock-forms carved by the elements 
of ages. The approach is through a great 
gateway, the massive portals of red sandstone 

79 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

rising to a height of 380 feet. The view of 
Pike's Peak as seen through this gigantic frame 
is very picturesque. Within, the rock-forms 
are scattered about singly and in groups, rising 
above the astonished visitor like grim spectres." 



So 



SLWA'/S£ A T PIKE'S PEAK. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Hotel on Wheels, August i. 

After forty miles of an exciting ride, mucli 
of it without steam, we find ourselves "at 
home" again. From Denver up 2,000 feet to 
the "Divide" two engines are required. 
From thence to Colorado Springs is down 
grade. At 5 o'clock we are placed on a side 
track, directly at the foot of Pike's Peak, 
The sky is clear and the sunset worth going a 
hundred miles to see. To realize the wondrous 
possibilities of sunset one should witness it 
here. The evening is devoted to a grand con- 
cert and ball in honor of the location. This 
morning is also fine, and the sunrise is beyond 
conception beautiful, as from the first golden 
gleam on the snowy peak the gorgeous change 
from dawn to day sweeps down the mountain 
side. 

One Sir Knight this morning hires another 
81 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

to black his shoes. After blacking one, the 
implements disappear and the day's fun is 
started. We finish a capital breakfast in time 
to fill the carriages for a delightful drive to 
Manitou and the Garden of the Gods. Among 
the Algonquins any object of religious rever- 
ence or dread is called " Manitou." Gitche 
Manitou (the Great Spirit) is the Supreme 
Being. The soda springs and iron springs 
were well known to the Indians for their rare 
medicinal qualities. No wonder they named 
this locality Manitou. It is a region of rare 
wonder and full of interest. A neat little city 
now clusters about the Springs, with fine 
hotels, a large bathing establishment, and a 
very pretty depot. The bubbling, sparkling 
soda water pours up a large volume and we 
find it palatable. On the road to Ute Pass the 
iron springs are fine. 

Ute Pass which was a trail to Leadville dur- 
ing and after the building of that city, is cut 
along the steep face of an awful precipice with 

82 



WILLIAMS' CA.VO.V. 

a roaring stream at the foot. This place gives 
one a specimen of rugged grandeur. Gog and 
Magog Hft up their heads from the two oppo- 
site sides. The narrow road with its sharp 
curves and short bends threatens to end by a 
sudden plunge down to the whirling waters. 
We saw the beautiful rainbows which gave to 
the falls its name and wdiich furnish one of the 
attractions of the wild pass. After a fine din- 
ner at the Manitou House we drive through 
Williams' cafion, a fearful spot. The gorge is 
so narrow that at times it is easy to touch the 
sides from the wagon seat. It is a long 
crooked canon between queer lofty walls. You 
can imagine how pleasant it is when I tell 
you that right here where our horses draw us be- 
tween imprisoning rocks, a sudden cloud-burst 
last summer sent dow^n fifteen feet of rushing 
water, which little feat took only one minute. 
Our party climb the steep side by a sloping, 
zig-zag, thread-like path until a dizzy height is 
reached; then up a steep flight of 134 stairs 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

to the entrarnce of the celebrated cave of the 
winds where guides conduct us half a mile into 
the mountain. The cave beine recently dis- 
covered, its beauties are substantially intact. 
Here are rare stalactite formations not to be 
found elsewhere. Coral, alabaster, and the 
most wonderful cascade and fern-like forma- 
tions abound. In this comparatively new cave 
a fine room was named bv one of the proprie- 
tors who accompained us, " St. Elmos' Rest," 
by which name it will be known hereafter. 
The cave is dry and can easily be explored. 
Descending" the mountain, we rode through 
the wonderful "Garden of the Gods." We 
failed to find any garden but the gods were all 
in. The remarkable features of this wonder- 
ful spot are too well known to require de- 
scription at my hand. Weird shapes, wild 
forms, fantastic beyond any conception. Here 
a rock as large as a house balanced on a mere 
point ; there a sphynx, a buffalo, a lion or some 
other strange shape.- 

S4 



LINES AND GARVEY. 

Glen Eyrie, further up the valley, is the resi- 
dence of General Palmer, and is romantic in the 
extreme. A ride about his extensive grounds 
reveals wonderful and impossible rocks sur- 
rounding the residence, in the heart of the 
grandest scenery imaginable. We drive up to 
the table lands of the foot-hills, and on a plain 
high above the surrounding country we follow 
for miles an old Indian race-course, straight as 
an arrow and level as the sea. The rare won- 
ders, the beauties, the glories of this day 
transcend all powers of language to describe. 
Reaching our "home on wheels," we take the 
train for Pueblo. 

While at the Manitou House we were all 
surprised by the familiar face of Sir Knight 
Captain Patrick Garvey. We also meet at 
Colorado Springs our good friend and com- 
panion Sir Knight H. Wales Lines whom we 
gladly greet, and from whom we receive the 
latest news from home. To-night we sleep en 
route. Last night we tarried here, and while 

S5 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

the Sir Knights locked every window and in 
cautious tones discussed cow boys and train 
robbers, the ladies left their car windows open 
and faced the situation as bold as lions. Dur- 
ing our trip to Pueblo, Sir Knight Lines brings 
into our car his friend Sir Knight Rose, of 
Rondout Commandry, of Rondout. N. Y., 
at present residing at Rock Island, 111. 

Our porters transform the saloon into a 
sleeper and we came to a halt at Pueblo for 
the night and a sound sleep. In the early 
morning of the 2d we were visited by Charles 
B. Kirtland and wife, who are living here. It 
seems strange to meet Meriden faces in such a 
region as this. Sir Knight Stanton, postmaster 
at Pueblo, goes with us to-day. We are pro- 
vided with a special train, narrow gauge, and 
are off for the Grand Canon. The day is 
bright and beautiful, and with our usual good 
fortune, recent rains constantly preceding us 
have laid all the dust. We approach a strange 
country. The rounded foot-hills are very high 

86 



THE ARKANSAS. 

and all along their summits are lofty forti- 
fications and ruined walls with strong castles 
and towers, all on a scale of unparalleled mag- 
nificence. 

A halt of a few minutes and we see on the 
ground fossil shells which we must get out and 
sample for our Scientific association at home. 

We pass great cattle ranches ; are whirled 
over arrayos where only yesterday were swollen 
streams; and so approach the narrow walls 
ahead. The bottom lands are absolutely level. 
The changing forms on either hand are grand 
and present views of varying beauty, each 
moment new and picturesque. Along the 
banks of the Arkansas we pass through fields 
of wild sunflowers bright with their golden 
crowns ; beautiful groves of cottonwood, 
hemmed in by lofty perpendicular walls ; long 
irrigated fields of growing corn, or wheat ; 
and then a wild tangle of reeds, flags and 
brilliant flowers. The swift waters of the 
river would afford facilities for baths, provided 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

one could find a place in which to wash on 
coming out. 

We pass a long train of ordinary slatted 
cattle cars laden with silver bullion and 
precious ores. The short, sharp screams of the 
little locomotive give notice to the road-men 
that this one is a "Wild" train. A lady on 
the look-out speaks : " quick, see," and all 
hands quickly look. An engine and two cars 
lie in a pile beside the track. It was a bad 
smash-up. The engine, a wreck, lay on its 
side and over it the cars all broken up. It 
seems a train preceding ours ran over a cow. 
If the animal was as badly damaged as the 
train, there was not even " a hide " left. We 
all indulge the hope that cattle will " clear the 
track " in future. Bunches of sage-cactus two 
feet in height grow all along the track. At 
last the valley widens with distant mountains 
and their rounded foot-hills. We pass pe- 
troleum wells — whether anyone has really 
struck oil here, I am unable to state. 

ss 



CANON CITY. 

Our good railroad friend, Mr. Manning, bade 
us adieu at Pueblo. We are all under ofrcat 
obligations to him. He has been of great 
service each day. We thank the Atchison, 
Topeka and Santa Fe for furnishing such a 
genial, capable companion. Nor is this all. 
Charles T. Parsons succeeds Mr. Manning. 
He is a general passenger agent of the same 
road, and joins our party to help us on our 
way. At Caiion City we notice the light 
colored stone buildings and prison walls of the 
State Penitentiary. Gangs of convicts are out 
in zebra garb, while guards with loaded rifles 
are closely watching. These striped fellows 
seem to receive marked attention. Here are 
also fine soda springs. 

Just before leaving, some of the Sir Knights 
post themselves on the engine and three take 
front seats on the cow-catcher, a position af- 
fording the finest chance for sight-seeing im- 
aginable, but it is a wild ride, as I can testify. 
We enter the steep mountains by a narrow 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

valley giving exactly room for the railroad and 
the river. Our friend Parsons supplies gog- 
gles to protect our eyes from cinders since the 
observation cars here are without a top. It 
seems quite a masquerade party. On our 
right is a perpendicular cliff over i,ooo feet 
high, and on the left grand lofty masses "with 
verdure clad." We pass caverns, lateral canons 
and cliffs, 2,000 feet aloft the river, and the 
telegraph which stretches from crag to crag, 
keeping us company. 

At one point three mighty canons meet. 
We sweep by a sharp curve to the left at the 
foot of a smooth wall of 1,500 feet. Then 
come such lofty piles that one cannot stop gaz- 
ing up. It is awfully grand, literally thousands 
of feet right over our heads are towering pin- 
nacles and ragged rocks, the walls over half a 
mile in height. /We spin around lofty spires 
where lines of red granite and gray alternate, 
and at last, right over the river we are all held 
up by powerful iron rods suspended from strong 

go 



THE ROYAL GORGE. 

braces placed against the opposite walls of the 
awful chasm. To the right of this bridge is a 
cleft not half a yard in width, and more than a 
thousand feet deep. Our ladies are in ecstacies 
over the wild grandeur of the Royal Gorge. 
This work is a triumph of engineering skill. 
Men were let down this yawning gulf to the , 
raging waters below by ropes, 1800 feet, and 
the cuts were made by such means. Every- 
thing in the canon is on a scale of immensity. 
Sir Knight Kelsey says, "We Americans bet- 
ter call Switzerland the Colorado of Europe." 
Having seen both, as has also Sir Knight 
Strong, they pronounce this more grand and 
imposing. Our train is stopped at the bridge 
and we alight to gaze. Starting again, we 
pass a sweeping semi-circle in the mountain, 
the brim dripping with many streams. On we 
whirl until at last we emerge into the open 
fields at Park Dale. The scenic beauties of the 
route thus far have proven a grand succession 
of marvels. At Park Dale we stroll about, 

91 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

watching a group of goats far up the Rocky- 
Mountains, or picking up specimens and pre- 
paring for a return down through the wonder- 
ful Grand Caiion of the Arkansas. 

From Itifierary. 

" The Royal Gorge begins just above Canon 
City. The Arkansas River, here a rushing, 
turbulent stream, is crowded close to the rail- 
way bed, and the massive walls of rock grow 
higher and steeper. Great spire-like masses 
lift their summits half a mile above our heads, 
and seem ready to topple over upon us. The 
roadway follows the river in all its devious 
turnings, and in one place the space is so nar- 
row that a hanging bridge had to be thrown 
over a portion of the stream. The scenery at 
every point is grandly impressive. From 
Canon City to Park Dale, just below which the 
Royal Gorge terminates, the distance is ten 
miles. 

" The Raton Mountains, comprising one of 
the lateral spurs of the " Rockies," and the nat- 

<p2 



THE RATON MOUNTAINS. 

ural line of division between Colorado and 
New Mexico, will be crossed by daylight. 
The summit of the Raton Pass is 7688 feet 
above the sea-level, or 1654 feet above Trini- 
dad, Colorado, a town of considerable import- 
ance, situated just north of the range. From 
the slopes of the Raton Mountains there are 
some fine views of the symmetrical Spanish 
Peaks, which are also prominent objects in the 
earlier ride across Colorado, and of the lofty 
summits of the Culebra Range. The Spanish 
Peaks are two graceful, glittering summits, 
which lift their heads far into the region of per- 
petual snow, one being 13,620 and the other 
12,720 feet high." 



93 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Hotel on Wheels, Aug. i. 
The Sir Knights of Pueblo commandery 
provided carriages for the entire party and 
they were at the depot at 2 p. m., at which 
time the rain was falHng. An excellent dinner 
followed and an enjoyable chat. Sir Knight 
H. N. Banks, Eminent Commander, Sir S. H. 
Guarnsey, Sir C. E. Newcomer, Sir J. B. 
Orman, Sir Irving W. Stanton, and Sir J. 
Schmidlap bade us adieu. E. Sir I. W. 
Stanton and wife accompanied us through the 
Grand Caiion. Our train is very late but we 
learn that the train on the Atchison, Topeka 
and Santa Fe at La Junta will be held until 
our arrival. Our sleep is sound, and we find 
by the stars before daybreak that we are push- 
ing for New Mexico. All along the route are 
the little adobe houses, one story high and 
flat-roofed. 

94 



NA TOX FA SS. 

The last six miles of Colorado is up the 
steepest grades possible for a broad-gauge rail- 
road, an average of i 75 feet to the mile and 
in some places 287. We are passing over 
the Raton Range. A 63-ton engine with 
eight driving wheels heads the train and a sim- 
ilar one is pushing, for our cars are very heavy 
and extra. The brakemen say they have never 
seen the train so nearly stopped. It is almost 
impossible to go on. We move a foot or two 
and stop, then start again with the greatest 
difficulty at the worst grades. The road is 
crooked and the views superb. At last we 
reach Raton tunnel, a fourth of a mile in 
length. The exit is into New Mexico. A 
descent of 500 feet brings us to vast plains 
over which we journey for scores of miles. 
The cut for the tunnel is partly through coal, 
which we notice before plunging into the 
darkness. 

At Raton a stop for breakfast ; " let us out " 
for a stroll. The Raton bank is an institution. 

9j 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

It is adobe, about 15 by 50 feet and a long, low 
hut, yet we arc told it does a large business. 
We find a store 300 feet deep with $150,000 
stock on hand, doing a business of $40,000 a 
month, a trade center for an immense territory. 
We pick up many line specimens of petrified 
wood. En route we find numberless prairie 
dogs, vast herds of cattle and sheep, and the 
usual adobe huts. An eagle perched upon a 
mound soars away as we approach. These 
immense plains are about 7000 feet above sea- 
level. Once in a while a sand mound built by 
a whirlwind is seen on the plain. The rolling 
prairie without a shrub in sight is beautiful 
with shadows of passing clouds. In the dis- 
tance the mountains show the level strata so 
familiar now, and away beyond, dim, blue and 
hazy are seen the loftier ranges. We invite 
into our cars a bridal party who are en route 
for Old Mexico, Mr. George H. Anthony and 
wife, and Miss Lulu Snoddy, of Kansas 
City. 

96 



WAGON MOUND. 

We reach Wagon Mound only to find that 
a bad wash-out ahead will hold us here awhile, 
and while waiting for developments we busy 
ourselves in the little town. A strange circum- 
stance is Sir Knight Kelsey's experience here. 
In reading over a letter from his father he 
learns that an aunt whom he has never seen is 
at Wagon Mound. Knowing only the Chris- 
tian name he searches till he finds one of the 
nicest old ladies you ever saw who cries for 
joy at meeting him. 

We are in for a stay here. The wash-out 
ahead has taken three bridges and over a mile 
of road. We while away the time, saunter 
among the little adobe houses ; some pitch 
quoits, some enjoy a game of ball, and at 
evening the parties on the train, which consists 
of several cars, arrange for a grand ball. An 
adobe hall is hired, the orchestra engaged and 
pubHc notice fills the little building. An ex- 
mayor and the present mayor of Meriden, 
occupy the two front windows. One cotillion 

97 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

was with a Mexican prompter. Hearty peals 
of laugliter followed his " calls :" " Fellers 
f oiler up ;" " Cheat an' swing ;" "All run 
away;" "Everybody dance;" "Four to this 
corner," etc. It was quite a lingo. A waltz 
with Mexican couples strangely mixed among 
nice people from the train was amusing. 
After a Mexican quadrille, which was pretty 
well worth seeing, we returned to our " home " 
and indulged in deep sleep. The 4th dawned 
clear, cool, and beautiful as an October morn- 
ing. Yesterday a terrible shower came in time 
to give us a variety ; so we expect, in spite 
of the fine morning that this afternoon will 
give us a drencher. We must stay here all 
day unless we can devise means to cross the 
break and reach Las Vegas. The air is fine 
and we make the best of it. We have moun- 
tain climbing, horseback and mule-back riding, 
wagon riding and walking. Sir Knight Mather 
and Sir Knight Perkins find out something 
about " bucking mustangs." Sir Knights 

gS 



THE BURROS. 

John Coe, Eli Birdsey and F. Pratt gallop for 
miles over the plain. We have tested the 
burros. What a queer animal ! People say 
they will live on old tomato cans and show 
bills. They are a "narrow-gauge mule," and 
can do more work and make a worse noise 
than any animal that walks or warbles. 

This is the lazy man's paradise. How these 
lazy people can ride as they do is a conun- 
drum. There goes a native, mounted on a 
treacherous mustang fairly flying over the 
prairie, lasso in hand, his broad sombrero with 
wide leather band shading his face ; his broad 
belt of cartridges and pistol case with suspi- 
cious black butt in sight ; the long leather 
fringe of his leggings fluttering in the breeze. 
Yonder a herder, crowned with a gold-bord- 
ered sombrero, its band like a serpent of 
gold. He sails like a bird and yet a stranger 
could not stay in the saddle ten minutes. We 
may be wasting a day but we are able to pass 
the time merrily, and this vitalizing air is a 

99 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

luxury. The wash-out which detains us was a 
cloud-burst just at the foot hills, flooding the 
plains for miles in width and drowning great 
numbers of cattle and sheep. We are prom- 
ised a start at 8 p. m. 

From Itinerary. 

"The Las Vegas Hot Springs are situated 
upon the banks of the Rio Gallinas, which 
flows through a romantic caiion from the 
Spanish range of the Rocky Mountains ; they 
are six miles from the main line of the Atchi- 
son, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. The 
Montezuma is a fine hotel, designed by a 
Boston architect, and is owned, like the 
Springs, by the railroad company. 

Soon after leaving Las Vegas, Starvation 
Mountain, an isolated, rocky eminence, having 
a cross upon its summit, comes into view. 
This mountain continues for some time a 
prominent object. While passing through 
the valley of the Rio Pecos, nearly fifty miles 
southwest of Las \^egas, the ruins of the old 



PRE-HISTORIC RUINS. 

Pecos church, built by the Spaniards soon 
after 1529, are seen. Near these ruins arc the 
remains of a pre-historic city, claimed to have 
been the once populous Cicuye, one of the 
mysterious " Seven Cities of Cibola." The 
Glorietta Pass is crossed at an elevation of 
7537 feet. Here and in the Apache Canon, 
just beyond, a sharp fight took place in the 
war of the rebellion between the United States 
forces and a band of Texans. 

Santa Fe (18 miles from the main line of 
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad), 
is the territorial capital, and the most ancient 
city within the domain of the United States. 
It is believed that a city of the Aztecs existed 
here previous to the arrival of the Spaniards. 
It is a quaint place, with Spanish-Mexican 
characteristics. All the old buildings are con- 
structed of adobe, and in the Mexican style. 
In 1846 the "Adobe Palace" was said to be 
the only building in New Mexico containing 
window glass. It forms one side of the Plaza, 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

in the center of which is a monument erected 
to the memory of the citizens and soldiers who 
fell in the late war. Among the buildings of 
interest beside the "Adobe Palace" are the 
old Church of San Miguel, which has a re- 
corded histor}" as far back as 1580, the Church 
of St, Guadalupe, the Cathedral, St. Michael's 
College for Boys, the Academy of Our Lady 
of Light, the Chapel of the Sisters of Loretto, 
the new Charity Hospital, and an ancient 
adobe structure near the Church of San Miguel 
said to be the oldest house in Santa Fe. The 
gardens of Bishop Lamy contain many rare 
trees and plants. The street and market 
scenes of Santa Fe are especially interesting, 
as the groups are largely composed of Indians 
and Mexicans. 

Retracing our way from Santa Fe to Lamy 
Junction, we continue our journey over the 
main railway line. The Rio Grande is reached 
at Wallace, and for over 200 miles the route 
follows this river. Near Wallace is the Indian 



IVALLACE. 

pueblo of San Domingo, and a little further 
on is the pueblo of San Felipe, both being 
visible from the cars. The San Domingo 
Indians assemble at Wallace in considerable 
numbers to sell turquois and pottery to 
travelers." 



lOJ 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 



CHAPTER X. 

Hotel on Wheels, August 6. 
When at last after thirty-six hours' detention, 
we left Wagon Mound for the Las Vegas hot 
springs, the rain had poured in torrents for 
some hours. The plain was an inland sea ; 
the daylight was fading and the track ahead 
was new ; so we found it an exciting ride. 
Passing it in safety we reached "The Monte- 
zuma," at Las Vegas hot springs, about mid- 
night. The menu is gotten up for the occa- 
sion in elegant style as a Knight Templar 
souvenir. The Montezuma is an immense 
establishment for this section, and is owned by 
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. The 
hot springs are a curiosity. The baths are 
enjoyed, and at an early hour our train started 
for "Vegas" and Santa Fe. Las Vegas (the 
meadows), with a population of 8500, is half 
United States and half Mexican. One passes 

J 04 



LAS VEGAS. 



the queerest little adobe huts with lazy Mex- 
icans loafing outside, two or three women in 
the door and children all about. 

In the city are fine American houses and 
Mexican huts intermingled. We pass a pretty 
adobe house with shingled roof projecting to 
form a veranda, with a pig-pen attached as a 
part of the edifice. There are a number of 
churches here, and several banks. The city 
has a street railway, telephone exchange, and 
all the appliances of modern living, yet it is in 
the midst of the strange, sleepy Mexican 
ranch-life. The altitude is about 6500 feet, 
and the climate is delightful. We .struck it 
at the rain period. This morning the con- 
ductor called us to look at a rare phenomenon 
in the northern sky. Light clouds are floating 
about, and high up towards the zenith is an 
inverted rainbow, brilliant and beautiful, curved 
lowest in the middle, the colors being opposite 
to their arrangement in the ordinary bow. 
We gaze on it for a half-hour. There is no 



TOUR Of THE ST. ELMO'S. 

rain and the day is fine. We do not desire 
to travel on Sunday, but the long delay at the 
wash-out renders it necessary. 

We expected to rest at Santa Fe this day, 
and were compelled to ride to reach it. About 
eight miles out our porter says to Sir Knight 
Garvey, "The train is going too fast for these 
curves ; I am going to get ready for trouble." 
He placed himself on the platform, and in a 
minute bounds off. The train was drawn by 
two large engines. We come to a stop which 
breaks a few dishes in our pantry. Some of the 
party see the engine and cars leave the track. 
All are out in a breath. The leading engine 
stands on the track except one truck ; the sec- 
ond is a total wreck, the boiler sending up great 
clouds of steam. The engineer and fireman 
are thrown nearly twenty feet, but not seriously 
injured. The baggage car is thrown its length 
to one side, the mail-and-express beside it lies 
with the floor in the air ; the next are badly 
handled, only the Pullman and our own cars 

J 06 



THE rain: 

being unharmed. The automatic brakes save 
these. A flagman runs to the rear, soon an en- 
gine comes puffing up, and we are slowly 
hauled back to Las Vegas. 

Hardly are we located when the pounding, 
pouring floods come down with terrific force. 
In no time there is a broad expanse of dirty 
water pouring along beside our train, covering 
the tracks and suggesting wash-outs. It is the 
water-spout or cloud-burst ; when these occur it 
is not strange to miss from one to five miles of 
railroad. The soil is of a peculiar quality. 
Mingled with straw and dried in the sun, it be- 
comes "adobe" and is material for dwellings. 
Without the straw the water will cut ofreat 
gulleys and construct a miniature canon in 
short order. We thank kind Providence 
that we are all safe and quietly await the re- 
pairs which are in progress, in spite of rain. 

Through the kindness of Mr. Parsons we 
are invited to dine at the eating house of the 
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. It is the 

707 



rOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

best dinner we have had outside our cars. 
Walking out, after admiring a beautiful rain- 
bow we stroll along the platform and all ex- 
press astonishment and admiration in viewing 
the most remarkable sunset any of our num- 
ber ever witnessed. vSuch a sunset is worth a 
journey to New Mexico. It is indescribably- 
grand. Such groupings ! Such a sky ! The 
blue is so transparent, so unlike a New Eng- 
land sky. Black, threatening clouds roll in 
the west, edged with golden yellow ; a vast 
ocean of tossing billows is in the south, just 
beyond a still, silvery lake ; blue, tumbling 
clouds are mingling with every shade of 
brown, red and golden, and yonder a group 
all aflame. Through all and everywhere are 
patches of beautiful clear blue, and glimpses 
of snowy white. We speak of the gates of 
pearl, and returning "home," sing together 
for hours, sweet songs of the "better land." 
We retire late, and at midnight away we go 
towards Lamy, regretting that the beautiful 

io8 



SANTA FE. 

pass over the Glorietta mountains is not to be 
made by day. 

A special is awaiting us and without any 
delay we pursue our course toward Santa Fe. 
We arrive in the morning and take coaches 
for the Palace hotel. A day at Santa Fe is a 
day of rare interest and pleasure. I wish all 
your many readers could see this most won- 
derful city. We visit the Tertia Millennial 
Exposition and points of interest too numer- 
ous to mention. Santa Fe is the oldest town 
on the continent. We see the ruins of the 
oldest house, visit the oldest church, San 
Miguel, and gaze on the oldest palace. Here 
we are in a town occupied by the Aztecs in 
1325, and how old it was then, not even tradi- 
tion can tell. Its narrow, winding streets are 
the same as in the olden time ; its broad plaza 
and many of its localities are Spanish, and 
its broad streets with handsome business fronts 
together with some of its modern buildings 
are United States. Here is " Lo, the poor 

log 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Indian " in all the glory of gaudy blanket ; 
here the lazy Mexican and the restless Yankee. 
A train of a dozen diminutive burros, each 
laden with a wood-pile strangely fastened 
above and around the body, leisurely followed 
by a trio of swarthy Mexicans, makes way for 
a modern omnibus suggestive of Broadway. 

The palace of the governor, one story high 
with its front porch, occupies the entire length 
of one side of the public square. It had been 
the palace of the Pueblos before the holy 
name of Santa Fe had been given in baptismal 
blood by the " Spanish conquerors," the palace 
of the Mexicans freed from Spanish rule ; the 
palace of General Lew Wallace, where he 
wrote "The Fair God" and " Ben-Hur," and 
now the palace of Governor Sheldon, who 
receives the Knights of St, Elmo. Here 
have met all the departmental and legislative 
bodies ever assembled in the capital of New 
Mexico. The terrible bloody scenes enacted 
within its low walls would fill a volume. Yet 



THE PALACE. 

it is unchanged, and along its front, water and 
gas pipes are laid, and the telegraph and tele- 
phone wires connect the strange edifice with 
the great world. 

At the Palace Hotel we are met by Sir 
Knight Max Frost, Eminent Commander, of 
whom I wrote you, when we met him at 
Kansas City. With him were several Sir 
Knio-hts. Ex-Governor W. G. Rich received 
us in his parlors with his family. Governor 
Shepard and General McKensie were also intro- 
duced to our party. The Sir Knights gave us 
their time and visited the points of interest 
with us. The climate is delightful, its eleva- 
tion of 7044 feet counter-balancing its southern 
latitude. Those who have seen the Mexican 
sections of Santa Fe, have seen the towns of 
old Mexico duplicated. We leave its mud 
walls, its sleep-inducing atmosphere, and its 
queer admixture of the old and the new, with 
regret. Sir Knight Mather finds here one of 
his Meriden pupils, a Master Sweeney, and Sir 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Knight Lines meets an old acquaintance, who 
worked in Meriden in 1863. En route in the 
midst of fine scenery, Lon Jeffrey spreads the 
festive board and we are in for a ride of 316 
miles to Deming. 

We soon see the dusky denizens of dug-outs, 
and at Wallace the genuine aborigines swarm 
about the train, offering bits of topaz, turquois 
and small pieces of pottery. It is a queer 
sight. One young squaw, gotten up regard- 
less of expense, her entire face a bright ver- 
milion, her fingers stiff with broad silver rings 
and ornaments innumerable about her bare 
neck, is no doubt the belle of the tribe and is 
the only one who does not offer something for 
sale. Haughty and stoical, she watches her 
clamorous comrades till the train moves on, 
then joins with the rest in figuring up the 
profits. We learn she is the daughter of the 
chief. A mile below a fenced Indian village is 
a center of passing interest. The swift-flowing 
stream on our right reflecting the rays of the 



THE RIO GRANDE. 

setting sun is the Rio Grande ; the village 
is San Fillpe — an Indian pueblo. We see the 
ladders by which the natives ascend to the top 
of the house and the holes by which they de- 
scend. Why they climb up to get in is a co- 
nundrum. These Indians are law-abiding and 
industrious, herding great numbers of horses. 
We see one herder with an immense number 
of burros. 

The mountains in the west are the Jemez 
range, (pronounced Ha-mas.) Algodomas on 
our left is a Mexican village and was at one 
time a hot bed of cattle and horse thieves. It is 
interesting to watch the straight, tall Mexican 
woman poising a water-pot on her head. 
Another Indian village brings us to Vernelio, 
an old settlement of Mexicans, many of whom 
are very wealthy, one being owner of more 
than a million sheep. W^e reach the vineyards 
where the soil is so strong that it is the custom 
to cut the vine back to a half-yard in length 
annually. Albuquerque is reached at night, 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

and its tras-lightcd busy streets extort cheers. 
We are in a genuine New England city to all 
appearance, yet it is eminently Western, being 
but three years old and numbering over 7,000 
souls. 

From Itinerary. 

" Early in the forenoon the line between 
the territories of New Mexico and Arizona is 
passed. The Mexican border is a little more 
than a score of miles south. The Rocky 
Mountain range, known in Mexico as the 
Sierra Madre, is here quite low, and the high- 
est railroad point is considerably less than 5,000 
feet. The scenery is for the most part wild, 
and the most striking feature in the vegetation 
is the tree cactus, which in many places grows 
to a remarkable size. A large part of Arizona 
is an arid waste, but where irrigation can be 
had the soil is very productive. Many of the 
famous mining regions are near our route." 



1/4 



DEMING. 



CHAPTER XL 



Hotel on Wheels, August 7. 
The early morning brings us a beautiful 
rainbow in the west. The east is aflame with 
golden glory. Steadily we move over the 
mountain-bordered plain. We reach Demino- 
at 7:45 and leave at 7, although we remain 
here more than an hour. Our arrival is on 
Jefferson City time, and our departure on San 
Francisco time, being a change of two hours. 
We have traversed all night the former haunts 
of the buffalo and the hunting grounds of the 
Indians. Only a few weeks since the latter 
were hunting for horses and cattle to steal, 
just here. On this plain, level as the sea, the 
Yucca lily attains a height of ten or twelve 
feet, and cactus of various kinds bloom amid 
the short buffalo-grass and sage brush, while 
there are occasional broad reaches of sand 
entirely destitute of vegetation. 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

The monotony is relieved by hundreds of 
acres of water glistening in the sun ; lovely 
afar where it reflects so beautifully the moun- 
tains beside it ; here, under the moving train, 
leaving its alkali deposit w^here the sun has 
partially evaporated it. Just as we are cross- 
ing the line into Arizona an immense eagle 
floats along quite near the cars. How easily 
he keeps by our side ; now lazily flapping his 
great wings, and now sailing without effort. 
Keenly he scans the scant herbage, anxious in 
behalf of prairie chickens. There may be 
desolateness in these great plains, but to my 
eyes the mountains afford one continued pan- 
orama of beauty. Between them we have 
swiftly moved all day. Now in the dim dis- 
tance ; now more near, ever changing in con- 
tour and color, piled skyward on either hand ; 
now kissed by the clear shining sun and now 
gloomy and dark under the frown of a passing 
cloud ; now with ragged outline, sharp cut 
against the clear sky, and now range after 

ii6 



MOUNTAINS AND LAKES. 

range, losing the loftiest peaks in the cluster- 
ing clouds. 

Again we pass miles upon miles of water, 
smooth as a mirror, reflecting every moving 
cloud and mountain peak. Although unruffled 
and calm, yet through the transparent air we 
can see a raging storm in the mountains sixty 
miles away. There is something remarkable 
in the strong definition of light and shade on 
the distant ranges. The shifting patches seem 
almost like splashes of ink on the picture, and 
the effects are strange. Should any painter 
imitate the reality, his work would be ridiculed. 
We pass great herds of cattle, their condition 
betokening nutritious pasturage, and yet the 
alkali affects the skin, although we have no 
dust to trouble us. Yonder, to the left, a 
cluster of miners' huts indicates the location 
of the "Golden Rule," a very promising gold 
mine. Many of the houses in this section 
have an extra roof about one foot above the 
regular one, extending away beyond the house 

117 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

on every side. The heat induces a constant 
circulation, and all sides of the house are 
shaded. An earthen vessel of porous material, 
hung in its shadow, filled with water, is the 
universal " cooler." 

We are not yet out of the reach of wash-outs, 
and the small one that detains us here only a 
very short time, is at the head of a system of 
canons which cut the entire valley in all direc- 
tions. The grade is steep, and we get down 
fast. The conductor brings us a telegram 
from Mr. T. H. Goodman, general manager, 
which covers a resume of all the news of the 
morning. We wire him our thanks, and while 
discussing the news, reach Benson, twelve 
miles from the well-known Tombstone mine. 
Smelting works are in full blast. 

Thirty people were killed by the Apaches 
last spring within four miles of this place. To 
the south, four different showers are in sight 
at once, the lightning flashing vividly. At a 
little station a plump squaw is bound to sell 

uS 



TREE CACTUS. 

her dog, l)ut the dog-market is not brisk 
enough to warrant the speculation. The 
Indian fences in this neighborhood are novel 
in their mode of construction, with crooked 
posts quite near each other, and small twigs 
woven closely. The vegetation is beautifully 
green. There are fine willow trees among 
others, and specimens of tree-cactus fifty feet 
high. Sand bags are laid in piles beside the 
stream to keep the water from flooding the 
land. At one point the road bed seems to be 
cut through copper ore. All rush to the win- 
dows to view a splendid cactus grove ; hun- 
dreds are in sight ; some thicker than a man's 
body and twenty feet in height ; there are also 
prickly pear cactus six feet high. Now we 
come to miles upon miles of cactus twisted, 
gnarled and brown, yet bearing delicate flowers, 
which we name Cactus Park. The distant 
mountains on the left are inky blue, and on 
the right every projection is light gleaming 
brown, with dark shadows thrown by the level 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

beams of the sun. The call to supper meets a 
ready response, sight-seeing being a good 
apetizer. Train stops at Tucson (pronounced 
Too-son ), a city of ten thousand inhabitants, 
and one of the three which claim greatest age, 
the others being Santa Fe and Fernandina. 
It seems that Sir Knights Lines and Garvey, 
on their way out, met at Kansas City the 
Mayor of Tucson and enjoyed his companion- 
ship a full day. We find on our arrival that 
this ancient city has excelled all by the hearti- 
ness of their greeting. During the day a 
meetins: of the common council was called 
and a resolution adopted, conferring the hos- 
pitalities and the freedom of the city on 
the St. Elmo party. We are met by His 
Honor, the Mayor, and the entire common 
council, together with several county and ter- 
ritorial officials, and are urged to remain for as 
long a time as possible. Much as we desire to 
do so, it is impossible. This circumstance has 
been anticipated. We are accordingly invited 



TUCSON-. 

to take carriages for a ride, and although the 
passenger train to which our cars were attached 
was a very long one, the Sir Knights of Tucson 
insisted on holding it and actually held it while 
we were treated to an hour's ride. It is a very 
interesting city, containing many adobe houses 
which are said to be warm in winter and cool 
in summer. A mud house certainly has a 
modest exterior, but in Tucson many of them 
are richly furnished. It is never safe to judge 
by appearances. The streets are broad and 
clean and there are many fine buildings. The 
retail store conducted by the mayor, Hon. C. 
M. Strauss, proved a surprise. Think of stores 
larger and better stocked than our own city 
can boast, brilliant with electric light, doing a 
business of $100,000 dollars a month, away 
out on the cactus plains of Arizona ! The 
Sir Knights who met us with Hon. C. M. 
Strauss, were Sir M. P. Freeman, deputy in- 
spector general ; E. Sir A. M. Bragg, E. Com. 
Arizona Commandery ; Sir S. C. Hughes, Sir 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Col. A. A. Bean, Sir G. C. Roskrugh, master 
of Tucson Lodge, F. and A. M.; Sir H. D. 
Underwood ; Sir J. McC. Elliott and a score 
of others. With heartfelt thanks for generous 
treatment we bid the courteous Sir Knights 
adieu and retire. The night is warm and 
somewhat dusty. 

Front Itinerary. 

" At Yuma the Colorado river is crossed and 
the traveler finds himself in California, though 
not in the pleasantest part, for the Colorado 
desert must first be traversed before the invit- 
ing and fruitful Los Angeles county is reached. 
A portion of the desert lies 263 feet below the 
level of the sea. In the vicinity of the Colo- 
rado river the scenery is quite picturesque, a 
remarkable group of mountains known as the 
Castle Dome being seen in the north, with the 
Purple mountains further west. The Colorado 
flows between these two ranges. Emerging 
from the desert, the train mounts to the San 
Gorgonio Pass, 2,560 feet above the sea-level, 



SAJV GORGON 10 PASS. 



or 2,823 feet above the bottom of the desert. 
This is the gateway to the most beautiful part 
of southern CaHfornia, and the transition from 
desolation to plenty, from a barren stretch of 
sand to the land of orange groves and vine- 
yards, is very striking. The San Jacinto Range 
is near at hand upon our left, while the San 
Bernardino Range fringes the northern hori- 
zon. We have meanwhile traversed portions 
of the second and third largest counties in the 
United States — San Diego and San Bernardino 
— the latter being three times the size of the 
state of Massachusetts." 



123 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 



CHAPTER XII . 

Hotel on Wheels, Aug. 8. 
The sun is rising in a cloudless sky as we 
approach Yuma on the Colorado river. A 
short stop gave us a view of the Apaches in 
their primitive style, a style which to say the 
least, would be considered extraordinary in any 
cold climate. We cross the Colorado river at 
an altitude of 140 feet and from thence a de- 
scending grade brings us down to a point in 
the great desert 263 feet below the sea-level. 
The way is through desolation. Black, bare 
mountains on the right ; the most distant, look- 
ing as if made of black clay, and the nearer, of 
lighter material ; without a particle of vegeta- 
tion. On our left, high shifting sand hills. 
We speed along across barren sands where 
gangs of Chinamen are stationed to shovel off 
the track. We pass the Flowing Well, a 
spouting spring of bitter alkali water. 

J24 



THE MIRAGE. 



Eminent Sir Knight A. M. Bragg accom- 
panies us to-day, having left Tucson with our 
party. He has driven six horses to an empty 
wagon over this desert when thirteen miles 
was all that could be made in a day over the 
soft fine sand. By the side of the track we 
see great "chunks" of pumice stone. Away 
off to the left a splendid mirage presents a 
beautiful lake with islands and trees reflected 
in the smooth waters — many miles of lake 
which some of the ladies and Sir Knights are 
certain of, yet nothing is there but dr\^, hot 
sand. On the right we pass an extinct volcano, 
which is now a broad basin in the desert, a few 
feet in depth, with mud boiling up a half yard in 
height, over the whole of its extent. Well, well ! 
There goes a Burro, a pack on his back and be- 
hind him a Mexican plodding along, both pull- 
ing their feet out of the sand. Where can they 
be going, out here, miles from anywhere and no 
possible shade within reach ? There's a restless 
desire manifested everywhere to " move on." 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

The temperature in the ladies' car is only 
114 in the shade, owing to the double roof, 
while in the other we manage to laugh at the 
weather with the thermometer at 1 20, and we 
have dust to-day. We delay dinner in order 
to enjoy the sea breeze that sweeps over Gor- 
gonio Pass. Gradually we rise, the mammoth 
heaps of rocks and barren earth come nearer. 
From the depths of this old ocean basin we 
rise to an altitude of 2560 feet and the pass is 
made behind us. The hot sand is sifting in 
the heated winds for a space of 140 miles. 
Water is brought to the stations in tanks and 
drawn into cisterns under ground ; sand-storms 
are of frequent occurrence, yet the trails are 
in use. We passed an emigrant wagon (prairie 
schooner), with a barrel on each side for w^ater, 
a full load of humanity, assorted sizes ; pater 
familias in advance on horseback and three 
burros (one carrying double), bringing up the 
rear. How they stand the fierce rays of the 
sun is a mystery. Near San Gorgonio Pass a 

126 



BEAUTIFUL VALLEYS. 

mountain stream is brought in a trough a dis- 
tance of more than a mile. 

Leaving the pass we descend looo feet to 
Mound City. Wild melon, willows, cactus 
and occasionally bright flowers put in an 
appearance. After the rainy season it is a 
lovely country. At this time irrigation is 
needed. At Colton, Sir Knight Strong and 
wife stop for a day to visit friends. Before 
reaching this station we pass immense fields 
of barley. Once sown and reaped the land 
will produce four or five "volunteer" crops. 
The valleys are beautiful. Orchards of apricot, 
peach and apple trees succeed each other, in- 
terspersed with lovely orange groves, long lines 
of eucalyptus, flower gardens, pretty houses, 
the ubiquitous windmill which pumps the 
water for all, and broad vineyards whose 
growing vines need no support of trellis or 
post. 

At San Jacinto an enthusiastic lad satisfies 
the open-eyed wonder of the crowd by the 

127 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELAIO'S. 

side of the track, with the comprehensive 
statement "Them's all the way from Connec- 
ticut." Mr. Samuel Miller comes on board to 
accompany us and to make arrangements for 
the trip to Yosemite. We pass near the Coca 
Munga ranch, famed for its wines, and then 
look from the windows down Orange avenue, 
seven miles in a perfect line. The smoky 
haze enveloping the San Gabriel range is sug- 
gestive of October, and the great flocks of 
sheep with attending shepherd and dogs, the 
buzzards floating lazily about, the hills on the 
confines of the valley as smooth as if rounded 
with a trowel, impress one with the feeling 
that the railroad has somehow got out of its 
proper world. 

There go seven Indians on three ponies and 
a squaw on foot with her papoose strapped on 
her back. We pass the Sierra Madre villa 
and the brick buildings of the San Gabriel 
Wine company. Since niorning we have 
traversed a country where not a drop of rain 

128 



''QUEEN OF THE ANGELS." 

falls for months together, and in these valleys 
a thunder shower is unknown. We are ap- 
proaching the city of the "Queen of the 
Angels." The air is cool and exhilarating. 
As the train stops, the Los Angeles Sir Knights 
come on board and we alight to take carriages 
for the Pico house. 

A short ride, and we are cozily settled for 
two days in this delightful spot. The Pico 
house is built around an open court where a 
fountain throws a plashing stream twenty feet 
in the air. Shading vines cling and clamber 
on all sides. It is cool during the day and 
bright with the electric light at night. Baths 
are in order and then the diningf room. We 
arrange for a ride on the morrow, and in 
pleasant dreams and restful sleep the night 
goes by till at the dawn the chime of bells 
calls every one to indulge the fancy in the 
strange commingling of life in the streets of 
charming Los Angeles. 



i2g 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

From Itinerary. 

"Los Angeles, or the pueblo de la Reina de 
los Angeles (the town of the Queen of the 
Angels), to give its old Spanish Mexican title 
in full, is the capital of the county of the same 
name, and the metropolis of southern Cali- 
fornia. It has a population of 15,000 and is 
growing in size and importance. It is in 
the midst of orange orchards and vineyards, 
and all kinds of tropical and semi-tropical 
fruits are raised in the vicinity. The tow^n 
was founded about i 780, and the older build- 
ings are constructed of adobe, in the Mexican 
style. The Catholic church is an ancient and 
picturesque structure. At San Gabriel, nine 
miles east of Los Angeles and within plain view 
from the cars, is the old mission church of San 
Gabriel, the fourth in order of date (1771)0! the 
missions founded by the venerable Franciscan 
pioneer. Padre Junipero Serra, between 1796 
and I 782. There are many large vineyards and 
orange orchards w^ithin the city of Los Angeles." 

J30 



LOS ANGELES. 



CHAPTER XII I. 



Hotel on Wheels, August 9. 
At Los Angeles we are glad to meet Sir 
Knight T. M. Smith, of St. Elmo. Pueblo 
de la Reina de los Angeles (the old Spanish 
title), is known as Los Angeles. It is a 
very pleasant city, with its orange groves, 
gardens and vineyards. There are many 
large and elegant buildings, much of refine- 
ment and wealth, and a strange admixture 
of Mongolian, Mexican and American civ- 
ilization. The morning and evening trade 
winds coming from the Pacific ocean fur- 
nish an exhilarating atmosphere, which it is 
a pleasure to breathe. This morning, after a 
good breakfast at the Pico house (in which 
connection I must not forget the watermelons, 
which weighfrom thirty to ninety pounds each, 
often reaching one hundred), we start in car- 
riages for a thirty miles' drive through the par- 

^31 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

adiseof semi-tropical Southern California. Our 
route is via Pasadena to the delightful Sierra 
Madre Villa. We pass through miles of orange 
groves, the streets often lined with graceful 
pepper trees, the fruit of which furnishes the 
ordinary black pepper for our tables. The air 
is spicy, the views are beautiful, and every- 
thing delightful, except the dust and the occa- 
sional roughness of the roads. At Sierra 
Madre Villa we are kindly received and wel- 
comed by Mr. W. P. Rhoades, the lessee and 
son-in-law of the proprietor, Mr. William 
Cogswell. This charming Eden was started 
eight years ago by Mr. Rhoades, who cleared 
the first land and planted the first orange trees. 
We roam over scores of acres of orange groves, 
and are allowed to pick and eat at will, tiere 
are magnificent bird-of-paradise trees. India- 
rubber trees, figs, apricots, peaches, apple, pear 
and pomegranate, with grapes in rare profu- 
sion, also groves of lemon and lime. Three 
hundred acres are under cultivation. Thirty 



SIERRA MADRE VILLA. 

miles from the ocean the strong sea breeze 
comes Hke a breath from the hand of the 
Creator, full of healthful, invigorating life. 
Islands in the Pacific ocean, sixty-five miles 
away, are in plain sight. This is no place 
for a poor man to locate, but one who has the 
means to wait for a half dozen years while his 
groves and vineyards are becoming productive, 
can make himself a home like a paradise. The 
rainy season from November to April is not 
unpleasant. Three or at most four days of 
rain are followed by beautiful sunny weather 
for about five days. There are showers, but 
never lightning or thunder, and all the moun- 
tain-sides and hill-slopes are vivid with "living 
green " and bright with gorgeous wild flowers. 
The dry season is without a drop of rain but 
delightfully cool except at mid-day. Irrigation 
protects the vegetation under cultivation and 
there seems to be no portion of the year un- 
lovely. We take a lunch, bid the genial host 
"Adios" and drive four and a half miles to 

'33 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Sunny Slope, the immense vineyards of Stern 
& Rose, They have one plot of vines, in bear- 
ing, just one mile square. Here are hundreds 
of bushels of oranges lying on the ground 
under the trees which are laden with ripening 
fruit. This firm manufacture annually 630,000 
gallons of wines and brandy. We were shown 
200,000 gallons in one room, some of the large 
butts containing 2200 gallons each. They raise 
one and one-half million pounds of grapes per 
annum and purchase six million more. The 
establishment is, in the language of the street, 
"a big thing." Mr. Rose, Jr., gives our party 
every attention. We visit the stables where 
thirty fast horses live in style. For one of 
these, "Sultan," an offer of $25,000 was re- 
fused a few days ago. Mr. Rose is reputed to 
be worth $5,000,000, yet 20 years ago he 
crossed the plains with a single yoke of oxen 
and a capital of one thousand dollars. From 
this establishment we proceeded to the old San 
Gabriel mission. Here is an interesting old 

^34 



PRODUCTIONS. 



church built more than a century ago. Among 
the wonders of this productive valley I men- 
tion the eucalyptus tree, specimens of which 
were shown us not yet eight years old, four- 
teen inches in diameter at the ground. There 
is one vineyard in Los Angeles county cqn- 
taining 2000 acres, and the vineyard area of 
California is to-day much greater than that of 
France. It is claimed that a man of limited 
means can sow the Alfalfa which produces a 
crop in three months and can be cut once a 
month thereafter. We find the best honey 
out here ever produced. Artesian wells can 
be successfully bored, waiter being found at a 
depth varying from 40 to 200 feet. There is 
a charm about this place that captivates the 
entire party. Whether it is the bracing salu- 
brious atmosphere, the profusion of fruits, or 
the beauty of the scenery, I am unable to 
state ; certain it is we shall leave this wonder- 
ful locality with sincere regret. 



135 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMffS. 

From Itinerary. 

" On leaving Los Angeles for San Francisco, 
482 miles distant, we climb the valleys of the 
Los Angeles and the San Fernando. Thirty- 
six miles from Los Angeles and 1200 feet 
above it, or 1469 feet above the level of the 
sea, the train passes through the San Fernando 
Range by means of a tunnel 6917 feet in 
length. North of this range the railroad 
crosses the Mojave Desert, a more elevated 
tract than the Colorado Desert, but an(!:)ther 
scene of wildness and desolation. This part 
of the journey will be made at night. The 
Tehachapi Pass, elevation 3964 feet, lies north 
of the Mojave Desert. Here a group of 
mountain peaks belonging to the terminating 
southwestern spur of the Sierra Nevada stood 
in the way of the locomotive, but by means of 
a bewildering series of complex and intricate 
curves, and finally by making the line actually 
cross itself at a different grade, a pathw^ay was 
made. Beyond the Tehachapi summit the 

/j6 



ENGINEERING. 



train descends to the wide plains of Kern, 
Tulare, Fresno and Merced counties and the 
valley of the San Joaquin." 



137 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

August lo. 

Los Angeles ! The jewel in the crown of 
Southern California ! Its unfamiliar scenes and 
semi-tropical environment ; its delicious cli- 
mate ; its streets alive with busy industries, 
combine to render it a desirable and attractive 
locality. The plow comes into use about four 
weeks before Christmas and the winter is the 
time of green fields and bright flowers. Its 
hotels need no fire for warmth, and the sun 
shines on its ripening fruits every day in the 
year. 

Our party was treated to a ride this morn- 
ing and the lovely region through which we 
passed captivated all. Pretty dwellings sur- 
rounded by topical trees, vines and flowers 
with fruits in profusion. In many places the 
ground is strewn with oranges, lemons, Eng- 
lish walnuts, nectarines, apricots and our well 



1 



LOS ANGELES. 

known New Eno^land fruits. Even on the 
steep hillside vineyards were creeping every- 
where to the very summits, thickly studded 
with brilliant flowers. It was a scene of beauty 
that will never be forgotten. 

One gentleman at whose residence we called 
has at his door a tree from which the family 
pick all the lemons they need every day in the 
year. 

The drawback here is the sudden change of 
thirty or thirty-five degrees in the temperature, 
which often occurs at or during the night. It 
is of course an easy matter to adopt precau- 
tionary measures. 

John Chinaman is also here with his un- 
couth fashions and modes of living. Some 
well-informed people, however, consider his 
presence an advantage. The extent to which 
these Mongolians are relied upon as house 
servants may be inferred from the fact that 
good servant girls receive as high as $25 a 
month. 



J39 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Last evening- Coeur de Lion Commandery 
of this city honored the Knights of St. Elmo 
with a princely banquet. It was an out-and- 
out California treat ; a right royal spread. 
Several of the buildings display Knight Tem- 
plar flags and emblems. The hotel at the rail- 
road depot was gay with decorations and em- 
blems in honor of the Connecticut Sir Knights, 
and to-night the advent of the Grand Com- 
mander has caused even the depot to enliven 
its front with a profuse display. 

In bidding adieu to this charming spot I can 
do no better than to quote from competent 
authority : "Taking all things into considera- 
tion — equality of temperature, healthfulness 
of climate, grand mountain scenery, produc- 
tiveness of soil, railroad and ocean facilities, 
accessibility, etc., etc., it has no superior in the 
world, either to winter in or to permanently 
reside." 

Saturday, August ii, we left Madera for a 
stage ride of seventy miles to " Clark's." The 

140 



MADERA. 

placing of our cars and other delays made the 
start two hours late. Only half of the party 
are off to the Yosemite, the other portion take 
one of our cars to Monterey. Our start for 
the Grand Valley was over a level plain, trod- 
den everywhere near the road l)y the tens of 
thousands of sheep driven over it. To the 
right is a V-shaped flume about four feet in 
depth built for floating lumber, and running 
back into a canon fifty-eight miles, being at one 
point more than sixty feet from the ground, on 
trestle work. The plain gradually becomes 
rolling ; the rolls grow into smoothly rounded 
hills which become more steep as we proceed. 
Presently rocks appear, but in strange arrange- 
ment, looking as if vast walls had sunk into the 
soil until only a row of points were left. 
These rows multiply, occasionally a rocky hill 
appears and at last the hills have grown massive 
and we are in a beautiful mountainous countrv. 
The rolling land is literally swarming with 
ground squirrels, little fellows very much re- 

J41 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

sembling our gray squirrel. They burrow 
everywhere until the ground is honeycombed. 
A small species of dove abounds, and buzzards 
are lazily floating over the hills or flocking 
where a carcass invites. 

The day is fine, a brisk breeze sending the 
clouds of dust away. Our driver, Mr. Phil. B. 
Tobey, is superb. I find that all the drivers on 
the Yosernite routes are men of skill and ex- 
perience, and certainly both experience and skill 
are requisites on these wonderful mountain 
roads. 

Our first team of four horses take us at a 
lively pace about twelve miles. The first relay 
consists of five, three leaders abreast, the in- 
creasinor orrade and irregularities of the road re- 
quiring this arrangement. Six fresh teams are 
employed to cover the seventy miles, the last 
consisting of six horses, and the rocking coach 
flies over the ground except on the steep up- 
grades. Disguise it as one may, it is a tiresome 
trip. Our way becomes more serpentine as the 

142 



THE RIDE TO CLARK'S. 

mountains are reached. We whirl alons; their 
sides, around impossible circles and curves, now 
this way, now that ; suddenly doubling on the 
track ; often on the brink of a high precipice 
or a deep chasm. So skillfully does the driver 
bring the coach around, that one soon acquires 
a sense of security. A big jolt is only a mirth- 
provoking incident and aching bones occasion 
as many jokes as groans. 

After reaching the rounded hills, mistletoe- 
laden oak trees appear here and there, and 
presently we are in the " oak-openings." As 
we approach the mountains we find a few pine 
and spruce trees which become more and more 
abundant until at last we skirt the steep moun- 
tain sides in the midst of a stately forest. The 
half-way house for dinner is at Coarse Gold 
Gulch. California quail are met with in great 
numbers, and game of various kinds abounds. 

The road is dusty, as it must be where no 
rain falls during these months of the dry sea- 
son. The sturdy trees are bright in the green- 

143 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

ness of their dress and must strike deep down 
to water in this cracked and parched soil. A 
coyote is seen and the track of a bear, but no 
wild beast ever disturbs the tourist in these 
days. The trees alont^ the crooked road grow 
more stately and as the forest thickens become 
of immense size. 

The sun goes down before our last relay, 
but the gentlemanly Phil dispels all fears by 
his cool demeanor and reassures us by his 
laughing sallies. What a glorious ride, whirled 
around the sharp curves, among great trees, 
often on the brink of a steep precipice, the 
trampling of the six galloping horses ringing 
out on the still night air, and the moon shining 
on the yellow thread which wound in all direc- 
tions, ever nearing " Clark's." It was down 
grade all the way. We were exactly 19 min- 
utes between the last station and our destina- 
tion, and were singing in full chorus, both the 
ladies and the Sir Knights making the moun. 
tain sides ring with joyous notes. We held on 



A T CLARK'S. 

tightly and the swaying coach brings us at last 
to the cheerful twinkle of the lights ; a 
moment more and the wide balconies are 
merry with a laughing crowd and the sharp 
whisk of flying brooms and brushes, in the 
hands of dusky servants or wielded by the 
genial proprietor, duplicates in miniature the 
dust clouds of the day. 

The table is well served, the attendants 
polite, the plentiful viands well cooked, the 
rooms large and high and very pleasantly 
arranged, and the beds, O such luxurious beds ! 
These, with the delightful surroundings, make 
"Clark's" a charming retreat, sure to be fully 
appreciated after a stage ride of 70 crooked 
miles. We are all soundly sleeping on the 
morning of the 12th, and the loud rap of the 
porter recalls us to a hurried toilet, a boun- 
tiful breakfast and a clamber into a seat for 
another coach ride to the wonders of the 
Yosemite. 

The distance is 26 miles. The regular num- 
^45 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

ber of horses required on the round trip includ- 
ing the Mariposa grove of " Big Trees" is 102 
for each coach. An early morning ride with 
" Dorse," the best driver on the coast, who has 
held the ribbons for T)^ years, a happy, jovial 
party aboard and the Yosemite just ahead, will 
do your soul good. A series of zig-zags, " short, 
sharp and decisive," coming on the heels of 
some glimpses of wonderful scenery, ushers us 
onto " Inspiration Point." 

The view defies description. Neither pencil, 
pen nor tongue can convey any adequate im- 
pression of its grandeur. Every tired Sir 
Knight and lady was in that one glance amply 
rewarded for the toilsome trip. We stood and 
drank in the glories of this wonder-land, then 
away we whirled down, down into the lovely 
valley, past the "Bridal Veil" on the right, 
and lofty, perpendicular " El Capitan " on the 
left, between the enclosing walls, beside the 
sparkling waters of the beautiful Merced. It 
was Sabbath and all were right glad to avail 

146 



YO SEMITE. 

themselves of the friendly shelter of Cook's 
for rest. El Capitan, seemina; to rise from the 
narrow level of the valley, lifts its proud front 
in a perpendicular line 3600 feet. The walls 
of this valley or chasm seem as if cleft from 
top to bottom. We muse on the scene, lost 
in its awful grandeur. A more impressive spot 
it would be difficult to conceive. An evening 
walk to Barnard's, a short distance up the 
valley, brings us to the loveliest location. The 
descending sun casts darkening shadows around. 
We gaze on the limpid waters of the Merced 
which flows at the edge of the veranda at 
Barnard's. The twinkling stars reflected in its 
mirror surface, the winds which move the 
whispering pines whose lofty tops seem like 
tiny shrubs beside the mighty clifl"s. and the 
chill which evening brings in these depths, only 
deepen the sense of awe. 

The cold compels a return, and with orders 
for an early call we sleep within the imprison- 
ing walls. 

H7 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

On Monday an early ride brings us to 
the placid waters of Mirror lake. It is a 
small sheet, but its charming location has 
given it world-wide fame. Every point of the 
lofty wall is duplicated in beauty below, and a 
wonderful double refraction presents acres of 
trees upright, while only a few steps away the 
still depths show a perfect picture of the oppo- 
site side of the gorge. Here is a wondrous 
scene. The diverging lines of golden haze a • 
thousand feet below betoken the coming sun- 
rise. In the clear depths each depression in 
the jagged mountain top is reflected as a gate- 
way of glory, sending afar its quivering shafts 
of light. Brighter and brighter shine the out- 
lines of the lofty rocks. Suddenly a jewel 
sparkles ; then another flashes out, until the 
long uneven lines are strings of blazing dia- 
monds ; more marvelously beautiful they grow 
until the myriad coruscations seem to melt 
into one fierce flash, and the rising sun l)linds 
the delighted eyes. A change of a single step 

148 



UP THE TRAIL TO GLACIER POINT. 

and the gorgeous scene is repeated again and 
again. 

At sunrise Mirror lake is beautiful indeed. 
When the feast is over we ride down the valley 
and at every turn gaze on a changing panorama, 
everywhere transcendently grand. A short 
rest and lunch are the preliminaries to an excit- 
ing horseback journey up the zig-zag trail 
which lifts the daring riders step by step to 
Glacier Point. Sir Knight Strong, who by the 
way, is major of the Horse Guards, urges his 
plucky pony in advance of the Indian guide 
who accompanies us a part of the time and 
follows in our wake the rest. The trail seems 
to lead straight into the solid wall of rock, but 
swinging aside up a steep incline takes advan- 
tage of the first projecting point to turn upon 
itself and push its upward course in a new 
direction. The turn is close work for the 
horse at times and lets the rider look directly 
down. Upward, by sharp turns, back and 
forth along the front of the fearful preci- 

149 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

pice, horse and rider apparently attempt the 
impossible. 

A look down a thousand feet make the 
nerves tense, but one soon learns to ride along 
the narrow way with one foot in the stirrup 
hanging out over awful heights without fear. 
At one point the short zig-zags were about 
tw^ice a horse's length and chased each other up 
for a long time. I counted six riders, one 
above the other, in a direct line, each alternate 
horse moving in an opposite direction and all 
going up a steep incline. These horses can 
climb splendidly, but are good for nothing else. 

We reach Glacier Point, and tying the horses 
went to the edge which overhangs the valley 
three thousand two hundred feet in the air. 
Stones thrown down seemed to settle slowly 
toward the earth and actually disappear before 
reaching the foot of the cliff. 

A few steps brings us to the hotel, from the 
balcony of which towards the east, the grandest 
view of all bursts upon one like magic. To the 

^50 



GLACIER POIXT. 

north is Cloud's Rest, and far away to the south, 
beyond Mount Starr King, the Sierra Nevada 
Range stretches away. In the vast semi-circle, 
lofty mountain ranges are piled upon each 
other, capped with snow and dim with the haze 
of distance. Exactly in the center the Nevada 
Falls present seven hundred feet of rushing 
foam, the Merced river taking the terrible 
plunge, and nearer the Emerald Pool ; then 
the beautiful Vernal Falls, three hundred and 
sixty feet in a single broad sheet, silvery white. 
The immediate foreground is the concave front 
of lofty vertical walls of solid rock thousands of 
feet in height making a grand sweep three miles 
away. The glorious picture lies at our feet. We 
sit and gaze, wrapped in admiration and awed in- 
to silence, a silence only broken by the ceaseless 
roar of the rushing falls. At length, while the 
mighty panorama grows in magnitude and im- 
pressiveness the low tones of a Sir Knight 
voiced the common sentiment in the words : 
'' What is man that Thou are mindful of him ?" 

'5' 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

For more than an hour we _2;aze while the 
wondrous seene imprints itself indelibly upon 
the memory. There may be other points from 
which equally fine views may be obtained, but 
let no tourist fail to look from Glacier Point. 
Reluctantly we turn, and mounting our ponies 
begin the perilous descent, our Indian guide 
bringing up the rear. Slowly and cautiously, 
with many a slide, the trusty beasts bring us 
down again till near the foot the Indian leaps 
his pony across from one path to the next zig- 
zag below in the effort to come in ahead. The 
Major is too quick for him and with a ringing 
laugh he strikes the level plain. 

When half way down we met Sir Knights 
Mather, Perkins and Pratt riding up the trail, 
they having made an extra trip to Vernal and 
Nevada Falls. From them we learn of the 
stage robbery which has to-day startled all the 
valley. We hear with breathless interest, this 
being the day announced for our own arrival 
and the despoiled coach the one in which we had 



THE ROBBER V. 

engaged seats. A change in our plans (de- 
cided at the last moment), brought us safely 
into the valley one day too soon for the foot- 
pads. Arriving at the foot of the trail we form 
and ride proudly up to the hotel, ten horses 
abreast. The robbery is all the theme. Here 
are the victims, without watches or jewelry and 
minus money. There w^ere four gentlemen be- 
sides the driver, and three ladies. The Grand 
Commander of Arkansas gave us the details. 

Near the top of a long hill a mile and a half 
from Inspiration Point, two men spring from 
behind the big trees w^hich grow so near the 
road that the coach wheels almost touch in pass- 
ing ; their guns leveled at the driver's head call 
a halt. The six horses stop, and as the eager 
faces of the passengers peer out they look 
into the threatening muzzles of the steady guns. 
The order is "get down" and "hands up." 
The men get out and are quickly formed in 
line. Back of them is a double-barreled gun 
ready to end the life of any man who lets his 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

hands fall. Each is thoroughly searched. One 
has in his outside pocket a tiny lady's watch, 
which is replaced by the highwayman with the 
remark that he has "no use for that;" "there 
is nothing small about him," he jocosely re- 
marks, "except his feet." His tracks, which 
we afterward examined, verified the assertion as 
to the feet. The ladies are left alone. The 
robbers cut the traces and shoot at the horses 
as they start to go back. The men are faced 
about, their hands still up, and ordered to move 
away from the valley, and not to look back on 
pain of death. The loss is about a thousand 
dollars in valuables and more than that amount 
in money. A purse is made up for the sufferers 
and we retire too tired to dream of bandits. 

Tuesday, Aug. 14. — "Bright and early" we 
bid adieu to the Yosemite and soon are out ex- 
amining the ground where the coach of last 
evening was robbed. Tracks lead off down the 
mountain to the river and a large number of 
scouts are on the trail of the villains to-day. 

J54 



OVERTURNED. 

The sheriff has compelled the driver to ac- 
company them in order to identify the robbers. 
At Chinquapin we meet the Sir Knights who 
passed the night on Glacier Point. Our coach, 
already full, can take no more and there are 
enough accompanying them to fill another. 
The regular driver is off "on the chase" and 
the substitute is unfortunately in a condition in 
which no regular driver is ever found. The 
road is tortuous and steep, the six horses 
become unmanageable, and the helpless substi- 
tute pitches the w^hole load into the rocks. 

The Sir Knights of our party fortunately 
escape with a few bruises, but the man who is 
responsible for the overturn lies unconscious. 
It is just at the station, and another coach 
is fitted out without delay. We lunch at 
"Clark's" and proceed at once to visit Mari- 
posa Grove. The coach is quite familiar now, 
and we do not mind the shaking. The "Grizly 
Giant " calls for special mention. Sir Knight 
Miller and myself paced around close to the 

155 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

bark and found it thirty-six paces. All the 
monsters are visited. One "Longfellow" is 
396 feet high. At last the road leads directly 
through the huge body of a living tree. A 
hole is cut measuring thirty-four feet on one of 
its sides directly through the heart. Our coach, 
containing fifteen persons, was stopped when 
in the body of this twig. Six feet back of the 
rear wheels was the bark of one of its sides, 
while around in front the noses of the wheel 
horses were exactly in line with the bark of the 
opposite side. Now that's the kind of sapling 
to talk about when you have occasion to men- 
tion *' big trees." 

A party of the tourists, preferring to visit the 
" Newport of the Pacific," left the Yosemite 
party at Madera. By the courtesy of T. H. 
Goodman, general passenger agent of the 
Central Pacific, they took the car "City of 
Worcester " to Monterey, via Lathrop and 
San Jose. Sir E. B. Cowles and wife, Sir E. 
C. Birdsey and wife. Sir John W. Coe and 

^J6 



HOTEL DEL MONTE. 

wife, Sir F. Stevenson and wife, and Mrs. E. 
J. Doolittle, registered at the beautiful Hotel 
Del Monte. Sir E. B. Everitt and wife also 
registered here on their return from the 
Yosemite Valley. This wondrous summer and 
winter resort is admirably located and superb 
in all its appointments. The rooms are large 
and elegantly furnished, the extensive grounds 
beautiful beyond description and the ocean 
breezes exhilarating. 

Without question the Hotel Del Monte is 
the handsomest w^atering place in America. 
Its scattered groves are adorned with 
drive-ways, foot-paths and lovely lawns with 
floral designs on a grand scale. About fifty 
men are constantly employed in embeUish- 
ing the gardens and avenues. One can drive 
over twenty miles of macadamized roads on 
the company's grounds. There are numberless 
swings, croquet lawns, an archery, lawn-tennis 
grounds and large bins of beach sand for the 
little folks. In the vicinity are the camp 

^57 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

grounds of the Pacific (Trove Retreat, Point 
Pinos, Moss Beach, Cypress Point, Carmelo 
Bay, Point Lobos, Pebble Beach, the Old 
Mission Church, and the interesting old town 
of Monterey, with its ancient adobes and 
churches and the old Blockhouse or Fort. 

The acres of landscape-gardening imme- 
diately surrounding the buildings present 
many-hued flowers in intricate designs, which 
exhale their fragrance every day in the year, 
the temperature of January varying only six 
degrees from that of July. Huge cactus thirty 
feet in height and gorgeous tropical flowers 
find a place as well as the modest violet, re- 
minding us of our New England home thou- 
sands of miles away. 

Surf bathing can be enjoyed "all the year 
around," but the immense bathing building 
with roof and side of glass is worthy of note. 
Five tanks holding 275,000 gallons each are 
kept by steam pipes at different degrees of 
temperature and refilled daily. These are 

^S8 



MONTEREY. 

surrounded by broad platforms for bathers and 
spectators, and the whole is beautified by flow- 
ering vines and plants growing in profusion. 

How we enjoyed the drives with a fine 
"turn out" of beautiful bays "four-in-hand." 
All along the beach are such lovely views. 
Many of the nearer islands and rocks are sur- 
rounded by scores of tumbling sea lions and 
are often white with myriads of birds. What 
fun to hunt for shells. We gathered many 
elegant specimens at the cost of ruined cloth- 
ing and a thorough wetting. A day was 
devoted to the mountain streams, and fifty-five 
handsome trout will be discussed on our return 
trip to San Francisco. 

From Itinerary. 

" The morning finds the train descending the 
broad valley of the San Joaquin towards the 
Sacramento and the Golden Gate. The blue 
peaks of the Sierra Nevada are about fifty 
miles eastward, and the Coast Range, less ele- 
vated, is nearer at hand in the west. Later, 

^J9 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Mount Diabolo, one of the most picturesque 
elevations of the Coast Range, and only 
twenty-eight miles from San Francisco, he- 
comes a prominent object. This mountain is 
3856 feet high, and before reaching Oakland 
the railroad passes more than half way around 
it. Beyond Lathrop we cross the San Joaquin 
River, and soon after approach the shores of 
Suisun Bay, which the railroad skirts for some 
distance. The Straits of Carquinez and San 
Pablo Bay also lie upon our right, and across 
the former is seen Benicia, and at the head of 
the latter, Vallejo. Near Vallejo is Mare 
Island, Rounding the point at San Pablo we 
come to San Francisco Bay, of which the Bay 
of San Pablo is a northeastern extension. 
Mount Diabolo, an hour since west of us, is 
now east, and across the bay lies San Francisco, 
the Golden Gate and Mount Tamalpais. At 
Oakland the train reaches its terminus, and a 
large ferry-boat conveys the passengers across the 
bay to the foot of Market street, San Francisco. 

160 



I 



SAN FRANCISCO. 
" SAN FRANCISCO," 

The metropolis of the Pacific Coast, was born 
of the gold excitement of 1848 and 1849. It 
now has 233,956 inhabitants, having in thirty- 
four years reached the rank of the ninth 
American city in point of population. It is 
very picturesquely situated between the Pacific 
Ocean and San Francisco Bay, and occupies 
several bold hills. It is more cosmopolitan 
than any other city in America, except possibly 
New York, and one of its greatest curiosities is 
its populous Chinese quarter. There are many 
fine buildings in San Francisco, and one of the 
grandest of all is the Palace Hotel. This is the 
largest hotel in the world, and one of its feat- 
ures is a grand covered court seven stories high, 
into which carriages are driven. The Masonic 
Temple is at the corner of Post and Montgom- 
ery streets, near the Palace Hotel ; the new 
City Hall, on Market street, opposite Eighth 
street ; the Mechanics' Pavilion, on Eighth, 
Market and Mission streets ; the branch United 

j6r 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

States Mint, at the corner of Mission and fifth 
streets ; the Post Office and Custom House, at 
the corner of Washington and Battery streets ; 
the Merchants' Exchange building, on Cahfornia 
street ; the San Francisco Stock Exchange, 
No. 327 Pine street, and the old City Hall, 
corner of Kearney and Washington streets. 
Golden Gate Park and the Cliff House may be 
reached either by carriage or by the Geary 
street "cable road." California street is the 
Wall street, and Market street the Broadway, 
of the city. Kearney and Montgomery streets 
are also busy thoroughfares. The principal 
wharves are on the eastern side of the city. 
There are places of worship for all sects, includ- 
ing the Chinese. The old Mission Dolores, 
established by the early Franciscan Fathers, is 
at the corner of Dolores and Sixteenth streets. 
The remarkable drill of the Fire Patrol may be 
witnessed every day at 12.00 m., in the building 
at the corner of Stevenson and Ecker streets. 
The locations of the principal places of amuse- 

162 



PLACES OF AMUSEMENT. 

ment are as follows. California Theatre, Bush 
street, between Kearney and Dupont ; Bush 
Street Theatre, south side Bush, between Mont- 
gomery and Kearney ; Standard Theatre, north 
side Bush, between Montgomery and Kearney ; 
Baldwin Theatre, under Baldwin House, Mar- 
ket, near Powell; Grand Opera House, Mis- 
sion, between Third and Fourth ; Chinese 
Theatres, 623 Jackson and 814 Washington. 
Gardens — Tivoli, Eddy, between Powell and 
Mason ; Winter, Stockton, between Post and 
Sutter ; Vienna, corner Stockton and Sutter ; 
Woodward's Garden, comprising a menagerie, 
botanical collection, aquaria, natural curiosities, 
an entertainment hall, etc., occupies two squares, 
bounded by Valencia, Mission, Thirteenth and 
Fifteenth streets." 



^6j 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Wednesday, Aug-. 15. 

To Madera ! A splendid dinner at Clark's; 
an early " lay-out " on a bed of the best kind ; 
a sudden rise and an excellent breakfast fits us 
for another little trip of seventy miles. The 
thermometer is at forty-four when we "strike 
out for the woods." The road is the same and 
is so terriblv" crooked that I trust I shall be ex- 
cused if instead of pursuing the devious path- 
way of the coach, I pursue, instead, a short train 
of reflections. 

The Yosemite Vallev is sfiven to the state 
of California in trust. It is said that prices of 
carriages, etc., are regulated by commissioners. 
Would it not be a good plan for the state to 
give to the public information concerning the 
various points of interest ; the best modes of 
reaching them ; the best routes to and from the 
valley, etc.? 

164 



REFLECTIONS. 

There are three hotels in the valley. One is 
very pleasantly located, and has bath rooms, 
barber shop and billiards, yet this is the hotel 
we do not hear of until we stroll about and discov- 
er it. Not only this, but our delay in startins; for 
the valley is largely due to earnest efforts to sell 
us coupon tickets for meals and lodging's which, 
when purchased, keep one away from the most 
attractive house. We hear nothing^ of the trail 
to Eagle-Cliff until after leaving the valley, and 
then by chance. The advance agents could 
afford "more light" and not harm themselves. 
The Washburns are entitled to credit for their 
management of the " Clark " hotel and the 
stage route. Yet one takes away the impres- 
sion that the railroad, the coach routes and two 
of the hotels are in some sort of combination. 
If Yosemite is a public park, " why is this thus ?" 

One day's ride brings us at dusk to our cars 
at Madera. It is like a return home. Baths, 
barbers and beds preface a quiet night. At 
early morning away we spin for " Frisco." 

/65 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Shortly after noon we are met at Oakland by 
Sir Knight William P. Morgan, a member of 
our own Commandery residing here, who kindly 
welcomes us and, acting as guide, conducts 
us across the ferry to the Golden Gate city and 
the headquarters of St. Elmo, No. 9, at "The 
Baldwin," first tioor, room twenty-eight. Our 
way is amid the most elaborate and profuse 
decorations. Not only this portion but the 
entire city is robed in holiday attire ; miles 
upon miles, from roof to sidewalk a bright flut- 
tering sea of color. Immense paintings, costly 
Templar emblems and designs, burnished suits 
of armour, life size figures of Knights on foot 
and mounted, banners of rich hues, and 
frequently of costly workmanship, national and 
state flags, mottoes of welcome, intricate show- 
window decorations of wondrous beauty, thou- 
sands of long lines of pennons crossing every- 
W'here overhead, and huge triumphal arches 
transform the entire city into a dazzling, be- 
wildering dreamland, a scene of beauty as far as 

166 



the eye can reach in every direction. No city 
on the continent ever even approached this. 
The overarching- hnes as seen from higher points 
seem like sohd pavements of bright colors 
over which an army mig^ht march. 

We meet our friends at our quarters. Our 
rooms are decorated in beautiful style. From 
the ceiling are looped long festoons of ferns 
and flowers with heraldic shields ; the large 
mirror crossed by letters of rare flowers form- 
ing the w^ords, "Thrice Welcome," the mantles 
and tables filled with costly exotics in Knight 
Templar designs, and mottoes of welcome 
about the sides of the rooms. Mrs. William 
P. Morgan, the daughter of Hon. Horace C. 
Wilcox, of our own city, had taken pride in 
doing this work with her own hands. Her 
elegant suit of rooms in this fine hotel are also 
at the disposal of our party, the windows afford- 
ing fine views of the principal streets. Our 
own windows also give us excellent views. To 
Sir Knight William P. Morgan and his esti- 

167 



rOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

mable wife, St. Elmo Commandeiy is greatly 
indebted. During: the entire time of our stay 
they have done all in their power for us. The 
reception accorded to visiting Sir Knights is on 
a scale of j^rincely munificence. All over this 
great city the "golden gates" are open wide. 
Such royal entertainment is unparalleled. Dur- 
ing the days of the grand processions all places 
of business are closed, and even the courts are 
not in session. The absolute order observed 
everywhere is surprising. On these days, as 
soon as the miles of tossing plumes and impos- 
ing regalia take up the long line of march, the 
horse cars are removed and not a team of any 
kind is to be seen on these streets. The myr- 
iads of lookers-on are decorously keeping 
within the curbs, and the entire wndth of the 
streets is unobstructed for long hours. 

One very noticeable matter is worthy of 
mention. Notwithstanding the fact that costly 
California wines are flowing everywhere "as 
free as the air you breathe," we have not seen 

i68 



HOSPITALITY. 

a single intoxicated man during our entire stay 
in the city. One cannot walk two blocks here 
on any day without meeting a band of music 
followed by lines of Sir Knights. All day and 
most of the night, all over the city, is one un- 
interrupted ovation, and this goes on for davs. 
The Californians are the most hospitable peo- 
ple on earth, and the great host which is 
swarming everywhere during these notable days, 
are received by all, with the heartiest demon- 
strations of welcome. The Triennial Conclave 
at San Francisco will never fade from the 
memory of any who were so fortunate as to 
participate. To every corner of this great con- 
tinent will be carried memories of this bright 
era, in which St. Elmo Commandery of Meri- 
den is proud to have a share. 



i6g 



TOUR OF- THE ST. ELMO'S. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Sir Knight Judge Coe kindly furnishes the 
following concerning the Geysers : 

Notwithstanding our stage ride of more than 
two hundred miles in visiting the Yosemite and 
Big Trees, a portion of the party could not 
forego the anticipated pleasure of a trip pro- 
nounced by many as the most "enchanting and 
diversified " of any on the Pacific coast. Sir 
L. E. Coe and wife, Sir J. W. Coe and wife, 
and Sir H. H. Strong and wife accordingly 
started on the morning following our arrival 
at San Francisco for the Geysers, which are 
about lOO miles from San Francisco in a 
northerly direction. Our route was via the 
Napa Valley, passing in view of Goat Island, 
Mare Island with its navy yard, San Pablo Bay, 
which we crossed by ferry, the Good Templars' 
Home for Orphans, and the Napa Insane 
Asylum ; the principal towns en route, Vallejo, 



FOSS, S/i., AND FOSS, JR. 

Napa, St. Helena, and Calistoga. The Napa 
Valley lying between two coast ranges, the 
Napa mountains on the east and Sonoma 
mountains on the west, is one of the most 
highly improved and productive portions of 
California. On arrival at Calistoga, seventy- 
two miles from San Francisco, we left the 
cars for a stage ride of twenty-seven miles, 
the ribbons handled by Clark Foss, the famous 
stage driver of tourist writers, who drives 
to Fossville, at which place he keeps a hotel 
where we stopped for lunch and to change 
horses. From Fossville to the Geysers we 
had for our driver Charlie Foss, an only 
son and, we thought, the equal as a driver, of 
Foss senior. This, like the Yosemite stage 
rides before spoken of, was up, down and on 
the sides of mountains, where often the stage 
was moving in one direction while the leaders 
of the six horses wxre running in another, 
giving the passengers varied views of scenery ; 
of the ravine, a frightful distance below, 

171 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

and the beautiful valley and mountains beyond. 
Charlie showed us the " Elephant," which is 
formed by the outline of one of the mountain 
peaks on the right. On the top of the moun- 
tain we obtained magnificent views of the 
fertile Napa and Sonoma valleys, together with 
the coast ranges of mountains and the Pacific 
Ocean far to the west. We stopped again to ex- 
change horses, at which station were an elderly 
couple, who kept "specimens," trinkets and 
small beer for sale. The ride down the mountain 
was exciting and quickly performed, arriving at 
the Geyser Hotel between five and six o'clock. 
The hotel stands 1800 feet above the level of 
the sea, on the south side of a valley through 
which flows the Pluton River. In the hills 
and mountains on the opposite side of the 
valley are the Geysers, or "Geyser Springs." 
These hills were partially hidden from view 
by the escaping steam, something like the 
fogs at times creeping up our West Peaks, 
or like the smoke from extensive forest fires. 



THE GEYSERS. 

We improved the hour before dark in visit- 
ing the near Geysers or volcanic hills, situated a 
hundred rods to the right of the main Geysers. 
It is a knoll of an acre, having a yellowish 
surface, with every other conceivable color 
intermixed. This surface was composed of a 
brittle crumbling substance which had been 
ejected from below or which had been formed 
by the action of the escaping steam upon the 
surface rocks and earth. 

A hundred jets of steam were escaping 
through the ground like the escaping of smoke 
from a coal pit through every crevice, the whole 
surface of the hill being hot. There wx^re also 
many hot water springs proceeding from the 
ground, and from this hill the hot natural sulphur 
water and steam are taken to the bath house in 
the immediate neighborhood. The air here and at 
the hotel is thick with sulphur, and even was 
noticed by us a mile before reaching the hotel. 
A sulphur steam bath taken later in the even- 
ing was pronounced the best ever experienced. 

'73 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

The next morning we were awakened by the 
guide saying, "It is now five o'clock ; at half- 
past five I start to show the Geysers. All 
should wear old shoes and ladies should wear 
waterproofs and leave their dress skirts at 
home." The guests of the hotel who had not 
hitherto visited the Geysers were soon ready. 
All were furnished with long staves and quickly 
made the descent to Pluton River, some 
seventy-five feet lower than the hotel. After 
crossing the stream we soon reached the base 
of the mountain and the foot of a caiion run- 
ning at right angles with the main valley. 
This lateral caiion in which are situated most 
of the springs, is called " Devil's Caiion," and 
down it flows a small colored stream of water 
called Geyser River. The caiion is A"-shaped, 
with the wall on the west side higher than 
that on the east. The ascent throuo-h the 
gorge is quite steep and slippery, yet the banks 
on either side rise faster than the gorge itself. 
The springs and objects of interest are mostly 

n4 



A HOT spq-j: 

at the bottom, or in the lower parts of the side 
walls. We first visited an iron sprino-, then an 
alkaline sprinc:, then a sulphur sprinir, and, as 
we advaneed up the rax'ine, we found hot 
springs impreo^nated with I^psoni sahs and 
magnesia and then a neiohhorhood where 
nearly all are sul]:>hur. The ,o;round is burnino; 
hot under the feet, the stream whieh is 
formed by the v^arious sprin,<rs is hot, the walk- 
ing stieky and slushy, and the atmosi)here 
stifling. 

Almost every spring and nook and eorner 
has a name. Among them are the -' Devil's 
Arm-ehair," " Devil's Kitehen," " Devil's Ink- 
stand," '' Devil's Canopy," " Devil's Stewpan," 
"Devil's Teakettle," "Pluto's Puneh Bowl," 
"Witches' Caldron," " Devil's Fuli)it," " Devil's 
Apothecary Shop," " Steamboat Spring," 
"Temperance Spring," "Hot Acid Spring,'' 
" Lemonade Spring," " Devil's Oven," etc. 
T he water in these springs is generally warm 
and of greatly differing degrees of temperature. 

^7S 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Iron Spriiio^ is 'J2)° ', Alum Spring, 97° ; Alum 
and Sulphur Spring, 156° ; Epsom Salt, 146° ; 
Witches' Caldron, 195°, Alum Spring again, 
176°, and the Gevser stream itself formed bv a 
combination of everv kind of medicated water 
shows a temperature of 102^. The water from 
the " Devil's Inkstand" put into a bottle looks 
like writing fluid. The " Witches' Caldron " is 
a spring some eight feet in diameter, of un- 
known depth ; the water black and thick with 
mud, the violent ebullition giving it something 
the appearance of boiling down sorghum svrup 
in a huge pan over a very hot fire. 

At one of the openings near 1)\', the 
steam escaped so violentlv as to throw aside 
all objects we attempted to put over or into it. 
Even stones were quickly displaced. At 
one point we could distinctly hear noises in the 
banks which sounded like hammering iron in a 
machine shop. This is appropriately named 
the " Devil's Work Shop." At another, above 
the hissing and bubbling noises was the sound 

176 



RARE WONDERS. 

as of a boiler blowing off steam ; called 
" Steamboat Gevser." We tasted the crystal 
formations around the springs and steam 
vents, and found apparently pure Epsom salts, 
sulphur, magnesia, saltpeter, etc. Side by side 
are springs of sulphur water and pure cold 
water. One hundred and fifty feet above 
all apparent action, the temperature of the 
clay there found is 167°. On the east l)ank 
of the canon we found the clayey earth to 
spring by the weight of a person walking 
ing upon it like a spring-board. Some of our 
party made haste to get off from it for fear of 
going through to an unknown region. Here, 
too, we found the "Devil's Paint Shop," the 
clay being of a scarlet color, about the same as 
we saw on many Indian faces at Wallace and 
other places. Undoubtedly the coast Indians 
a few years since often resorted to this wonder- 
ful place to procure their war paints, and to heal 
their sick. 

It would seem that the multitude of mineral 

7/7 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

combinations found in the " Devil's Apothecary 
Shop " might be sufficient to cure all diseases 
that flesh is heir to. One writer has said : " On 
every foot of ground we had trodden, the crys- 
talline products of an unceasing chemical action 
abounded : alum, magnesia, tartaric acid, Epsom 
salts, ammonia, nitre, iron, and sul])hur." 

Bayard Taylor thus describes the cailon : 
" Over the rocks crusted as with a mixture of 
blood and brimstone, pour angrv cataracts of 
seething milky water. In every corner and 
crevice a little piston is working or a heart is 
beating, while from a hundred vent-holes above 
our heads the steam rushes in terrible jets. 
I have never beheld an\' scene so entirely in- 
fernal in its appearance. The rocks burn under 
you ; you are enveloped in fierce heat, strangled 
by puffs of dial)olical vapor and stunned by 
the awful hissing, spitting, sputtering, roaring, 
threatening sounds, as if a dozen steamboats, 
blowing through their escape pipes had aroused 
the ire of ten thousand hell-cats." 



THE RETURN. 

To "do" the geysers took us about an hour 
and a half. On our return to San Francisco 
we chose a different route from the one taken 
before, to wit, the Cloverdale and Sonoma 
valley route, which consists of another of those 
mountain stage rides of fifteen miles to Clover- 
dale, the road generally very narrow and very 
high above the ravine, affording a variety of 
beautiful mountain and landscape scenery. 
The " Turk's Head " was pointed out to us. 
It is a rock formation and the most perfect 
natural profile ever seen, not excepting the 
" Old Man of the Mountain." We were 
fortunate in our traveling companions, who 
were Sir Knight and Mrs. Bunton, of Boston, 
and Mrs. Tristam Burgess, chairman Ladies' 
Reception Committee, of San Francisco. At 
Cloverdale, where we stopped for lunch, we 
found the thermometer to register iio°, yet 
ladies who took the train thence for San Fran- 
cisco took their furs, and placed them in the 
racks of the cars ; they were needed before 

179 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

they reached our destination. Our raih'oad 
ride through the Sonoma Valley gave us 
another opportunity to see the vast wheat fields 
and extensive orchards and vineyards, made 
productive by the wonderful soil and climate of 
California. Some of the principal towns on 
the road are Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Santa 
Rosa, Petaluma, and San Rafael. The dis- 
tance from Cloverdale to San Francisco is 
ninety miles, the last thirteen of which were 
by boat across San Francisco Bay. It was 
a delightful sail, with views of the city, the 
setting sun and the Golden Gate. Thus ended 
our two days' trip to the Geysers. 



iSo 



QUOTATIONS. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

From San Francisco papers of August 21 : 
* -A- v:- ,< \Yj-,gj-^ .^ mere holiday crowds the 
sidewalks and fills the windows with the intelli- 
gent faces of such men and women as one can 
see only in a land where all are born free and 
equal, we wonder at the unmistakable evidences 
of the rivalry which marks the struggle of life 
in the centers of civilization ; the sight of the 
thousands that move through the streets and 
the thousands that look at the spectacle from 
their homes, fills the observer with amazement 
at the immense vitality of a modern city. 

If the frequent holiday scenes in a great city 
be so potent to arouse admiration of its vast 
energy, how much more effective in awakening 
the wonder of the beholder, must such a 
demonstration as that of yesterday in San 
Francisco have been. The countless multitude 
of human beings that spread over every thor- 

181 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMQ-S. 

oughfare, was not the familiar crowd which 
gives to the city an ordinary hohday appear- 
ance. The sea of faces that might have been 
observed from any window which commanded 
an unobstructed view of the Templars' march 
betokened an outpouring of the population 
such as one sees but seldom in a lifetime, and 
then watches with growing surprise that such 
density of life can be dominated and controlled 
by universal regard for order. 

The continent knew yesterday that the 
metropolis of the Pacific was to be the scene 
of a most remarkable pageant. To-day it may 
be said, with slight exaggeration, that half our 
State has learned from personal observation 
that the demonstration was a spectacle, the 
grandeur of which was only paralleled by its 
novelty and exceeded by the unbounded admir- 
ation and unrestrained friendliness of the hun- 
dreds of thousands through whose decorous 
ranks it passed. 

It would be a hopeless task to attempt, by 
1S2 



THE PAGEANT. 

the simple lines of a pen-picture, to describe a 
single detail of the grand demonstration that 
aroused San Francisco yesterday morning and 
made the length and breadth of its streets for 
miles dark with restless hosts of sight-seers and 
gay with banners of silk and gold. The valley 
of the city, viewed from the heights uj) which 
the railroad cars traveled with their loads of 
spectators, presented an appearance not easily 
forgotten. From every building of note rich 
banners floated in the fresh, beautiful air that 
came briskly across the hills, laden with the 
odor of the ocean. Endless rows of flags and 
pennants waved and fluttered over the black 
masses of people, whose movements were sug- 
gestive of the concentrating strength of a great 
army. The whole surface of the city seemed 
instinct with life. The streets accommodated 
but a portion of the populace. Looking down 
from the elevation of California street, the eye 
dwelt with surprise on the groups of eager 
spectators that occupied every roof along the 

1S3 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

line of the procession and g^azecl with appre- 
hension at the adventurous tenants of dizzy 
cornices and tall chimneys, that almost trem- 
bled under their unaccustomed burden. 

The flutter of silken banners, the rush of 
vehicles, the ceaseless ebb and flow of the tide 
of humanity, all aided to impress the observer 
with the magnitude of the demonstration 
which the city was about to witness. Nothing 
seemed to have escaped the decorator ; no 
window was so rich in architectural attractions 
or so modest in its dimensions that it was 
deemed above or below the necessity of the 
popular ornamentation. The high and the 
low, the rich and the poor, the leaders of 
society and those to whom that word bore no 
significance, had equally exerted themselves to 
show their approval of the day's event and 
their desire to usher it in auspiciously. From 
the roof-tops of the plebeian quarter and from 
the towers of Nob Hill the ever-present deco- 
rations waved their greetings to the stranger 

184 



THE KNIGHTL Y HOSTS. 

and their encouragement to the Knights who 
were "to the manner born." Above all, rising 
to imbue the scene of universal friendship 
with the spirit of harmony, came the strains of 
martial music as the Knightly hosts moved 
toward the distant avenue where the pageant 
w^as to begin with a grand review. 

Looking down from the hill the spectator 
saw the black masses on each street flecked by 
the white plumes of the Templars as they 
either stood in waiting to join the main col- 
umn or marched to meet it. The magnificent 
uniforms, the troops of mounted Knights and 
the glitter of polished weapons as the sun 
pierced the morning mist and gleamed on the 
banners of silk and gold, added the last touch 
of military pomp to the scene and completed 
the illusion. It required no great stretch of 
the imagination, with the rustle of the banners, 
the trampling of the hoofs and the echoes of 
bugle calls to carry the scene back to the 
twelfth century and invest it with the martial 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

dignity of the preparations that ushered in 
Prince John's great tourney on the field of 
Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

A closer inspection did not lessen the illu- 
sion, and when the Knightly hosts marched 
into the splendid avenue which had been 
wisely chosen for the review, it was easy to 
find in the thousands of stalwart forms, whose 
grand bearing elicited popular applause, some 
figures that might have typified the dauntless 
Knight Ivanhoe or the invincible Coeur de 
Lion himself. Never before had the aristo- 
cratic avenue of the city seen such a pageant, 
and never did it so thoroughly discard its 
reserve and strain with such plebeian earnest- 
ness to obtain a full view of the spectacle of 
the hour. Every mansion had flung open its 
windows to their fullest and placed in them 
bevies of San Francisco beauties, whose flash- 
ing eyes matched well the splendor of the 
parade and wdiose cheeks put to shame the 
delicacy of the roses climbing up the trellis 

iS6 



THE REl'IEW. 

with true Californian luxuriance. The small- 
est point of vantage from which the re\^iew 
could be seen was jealously guarded by some 
occupant, to whom time was of no moment, 
the increasing warmth of the sun no inconven- 
ience and the insecurity of his or her position 
of no consequence. 

Van Ness avenue was the scene of the 
greatest interest and brilliancy in the day's 
programme. It was here the 5000 Knights 
were drawn up in line and were reviewed by 
the Grand Master of the United States, and 
as he passed down the line riding a beautiful 
white horse, richly caparisoned, attended by 
his suite, banners were dipped and Sir Knights 
presented swords in one continuous line of 
steel. Immediately after the Grand Master 
reached the left of the line, the order " Column 
Forward " was given and the procession wheeled 
down Van Ness avenue into Eddy street, where 
a reviewing platform had been erected for the 
Grand Master, which he already occupied as 

1S7 



TOCE OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

commandeiy after commandery and division 
after division passed in review. 

The procession was composed of an advance 
guard and ten divisions, each under command 
of a Past Grand Commander, and San Fran- 
cisco witnessed a pageant never equaled on the 
Pacific coast in point of display, picturesque- 
ness, extent, or pomp — that of the Knight 
Templars of yesterday." 

A description of each commandery and 
division not being of interest in this connection 
I only include a portion of the report of the 
Fourth, as this was composed principally of 
New England commanderies (Boston not be- 
ing included), 

" The Fourth Division was commanded by P. G. C. Nicholas Van 
Slj'ck, of Rhode Island, with a corps of efficient aids, and escorted 
by Golden Gate Commandery No. lo, of San Francisco, preceded 
by the First U. S. Artillery Band. Then followed in order — 

The Grand Commandery of Maine. 

The Grand Commandery of New Hampshire. 

The Grand Commandery of Vermont. 

The Grand Commandery of Connecticut, ' 
each Grand Commandery accompanied by a few Sir Knights from 
their respective states." 

jSS 



ST. ELMO, No. g. 

" On the left of this division was St. Elmo 
Commander}', No. 9, of Meriden, Conn., 
thirty-eight swords, bearing a beautiful white 
banner trimmed with gold. On one side is the 
picture of the Castle of St. Elmo, set on a 
barren rock. Above this is the name of the 
Commandery in letters of gold and on each 
side the words ''I?i Hoc Sinio Vinccs'' are 
placed. On the reverse side is a passion cross, 
with K. T. on each side. The regalia of this 
body of Knights, is pretty as well as emblematic 
of the Order. The cross, sashes and belts are 
black velvet trimmed with either silver or ""old 
fringe, also studded with emblems. The hats 
are the old black cockade fashion, with black 
plume floating over the back. An apron 
adorned with a skull within a triancjle hang-s 
suspended from the body. Their regalia being 
old pattern, and more elaborate than most 
other commanderies in the line, taken together 
with steady marching by platoon, drew fre- 
quent applause from the crowds along the line 

i8g 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMffS. 

of march. St, Elmo of Meriden is deserving 
especial mention in this connection, as coming 
from the extreme eastern portion of our 
country, and parading with more swords in 
proportion to its membership than any com- 
mandery east of the Mississippi River." 

THE week's programme. 

Saturda}', August i8 — Reception Day. 

Sunday, ig — Templar Service in the Grand Pavilion. 

Monday, 20 — Grand Parade and Review. 

Tuesday, 21 — Promenade Concert, Grand Pavilion. 

Wednesday, 22 — Excursions, Grand Banquet and Concert. 

Thursday, 23 — Excursions, Receptions and Grand Orchestral 
and Promenade Concert, Grand Pavilion. 

Friday, 24 — Laying Corner-Stone Garfield Monument in Golden 
Gate Park, and Excursions. 

Saturday, 25 — Grand Competitive Prize Drill. Excursion 
tickets provided for anj- regular train throughout the State, with 
special excursions to San Jose, Santa Cruz, Monterey, the Napa 
Valle}', etc., with ocean excursion trips. 

Frovt Iti nerary. 

" For a distance of thirty-two miles, or as 
far as Port Costa, we follow the same route 
over which we came. Crossing the straits of 

/go 



HOMEWARD. 

Carquinez at that point on the mammoth steam 
ferry-boat " Solano," the largest craft of its 
kind in the world, the whole train being taken 
on board at once, the route extends throusrh 
Benicia and across the fertile plains beyond. 
Sacramento is a handsome and attractive city of 
over 25,000 inhabitants, and the capital of the 
State. The capitol is a stately edifice, with a 
fine dome 220 feet in height. The cost of the 
building was $2,500,000. Crossing the great 
plains of Nevada, the State is traversed by the 
railroad for 456 miles. Reno, Wadsworth, 
Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, Carlin, Elko 
and Wells are the chief places upon the way. 
Humboldt, where breakfast will be served, is 
a veritable oasis in the desert, the proprietors 
of the Humboldt House having brought water 
down from the neighboring Humboldt Moun- 
tains for irrigating purposes. Winnemucca 
was named in honor of a celebrated Piute 
chief who died about a year since. Elko is a 
flourishing mining center. Although the 

igi 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S, 

route is over the unproductive alkali plains, 
the scenery is never uninteresting, as there is 
an ever-changing prospect of mountains." 

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. 

" The Mormon capital presents many strange 
sights. Salt Lake City, or Zion, as it is called 
by the Latter Day Saints, is very beautifully 
situated in the great Salt Lake valley. The 
wonderful inland sea is situated only a few 
miles away, and in the opposite direction rises 
the great wall of the Wahsatch Range. The 
city covers a wide expanse, and the streets are 
laid out regularly, bordered with trees and 
watered by tiny canals of pure water. The 
number of people who own the houses in 
which they live is said to be greater in 
proportion to the population than in any 
other city of the Union. There are copi- 
ous sulphur springs within the city, and rich 
silver mines within a distance of a score 
of miles. The number of inhabitants is about 

/g2 



SALT LAKE CLTY. 

20,000, the majority being Mormons. The 
Tabernacle, the chief place of worship of the 
Mormons, is a great egg-shaped building, 250 
feet long and 150 feet wide, with a roof 80 
feet from the floor. There are seats for 8000 
persons and 20 doors for exit. The unfinished 
Temple and the Assembly House are in the 
same enclosure with the Tabernacle, and the 
Endowment House is in a separate enclosure 
near the latter building. Among the other 
places of interest are the Tithing offices, Brig- 
ham Young's former residence ; the Amelia 
Palace (built for one of President Young's 
favorite wives and now occupied by President 
Taylor) ; the gigantic mart of ' Zion's Co- 
operative Mercantile Institution,' known in 
short as the ' Co-op. store,' and the Deseret 
Museum, which contains a small but interest- 
ing collection of curiosities. Camp Douglas 
is finely situated near the city." 



'93 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Friday, Aug-. 24. 
At 3.30 r. M. we bid adieu to the hearty 
good cheer of San Francisco. A large number 
of friends cross the ferry with us, among others 
two Sir Knights of St. Elmo, Sir Theo. Byxbee 
and Sir James Belden, who preceded us and 
concerning whom a capital story is going the 
rounds. It seems the reporter of one of the 
San Francisco papers announced them as Major 
General Byxbee and Governor Belden of Con- 
necticut. Sir Knight, James has answered to his 
title ever since. The Japanese minister came 
on board and went through our cars at the 
ferry. Mr. and Mrs. William P. Morgan with 
a few other friends accompained us to the next 
station, then final adieus were exchanged and 
we were off for a ride of 872 miles to Salt Lake. 
On this route is the largest ferry-boat in the 
world, affording room for forty-eight freight cars 

ig4 



J CONTINENT TO CROSS. 

on deck at once. There are four tracks on 
which are taken as many trains. For many 
miles we pass along the shore of the best har- 
bor on the continent. Leaving the broad 
waters at last w^e realize that we have turned 
our faces homeward. There is only a conti- 
nent to cross ! 

Sacramento, a city of nearly 30,000 inhabitants, 
is passed just after dark. At midnight most of 
the party are on the platforms and at the wnn- 
dow^s to witness by moonlight the passage 
"around the horn." The railroad at this place 
is cut into the face of a fearful precipice. The 
strongest nerves somehow call for a firm grasp 
here and all hands hold on tightly till we are 
safely by. We are told that Mother Hubbard 
was there enjoving the scenery, and do know 
for a certainty that Father Hubbard was out. 
During the latter part of the night we pass 
through thirty-eight miles of snow sheds. One 
sleepy Sir Knight inquired this morning if we 
saw that "long bridge." He said he looked 

'95 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

till he "got tired"- and fell asleep. The high- 
est elevation is at Soda Springs, 6,750 feet. 

We are passing over an alkali ])lain between 
treeless mountain ranges all day. There is little 
dust, but what there is, makes the skin smart 
and inflames the eyes, lips and nostrils. The 
Sinks of the Humboldt river are passed. Three 
rivers in this desert empty into as man)' sinks 
which have no outlet. We ride for miles beside 
one of these. Sir Knight W. K. Mendenhall 
and lady, whose sleeping car is placed in another 
section of the train and who are thus without 
quarters, are given a place with us and form a 
pleasant addition to our party. Humboldt is a 
pretty oasis in the monotonous desert. A fine 
fountain, a little lake with swan, and line lawns 
with trees enhance the contrast ; then the 
dreary waste again. There are ranches occa- 
sionally, and sometimes great fields of grain, 
but only at points where precious water can be 
obtained. No rain falls here. Rarely during 
the winter nights slight snows whiten the alkali 

/g6 



PALISADE. 

surface a little, and these invariably disappear 
in the early part of the day. Just at dusk we 
follow the curvino; river, by a series of circlin|tj; 
turns among the parti-colored mountains. 
There are yellows, reds, grays, browns, all 
streaked with lines of many tints. The setting 
sun gilds some with flame-colored lights, leav- 
ing the rest with sombre shades. The effect 
is indescribable. 

At Palisade is a touch of civilization. The 
Palisades are unlike anything we have seen and 
very beautiful ; a novel caiion indeed. A 
bright sulphur-colored lichen enhances the 
singularity of the scene. Here is the junction 
of the Palisade and Eureka railroad, a narrow- 
gauge to the mines. The valley widens into 
fertile fields, with distant mountain ranges, and 
then — the desert with its poisonous dust. The 
day's ride is attended with more discomfort 
than the southern route gave us. The heat is 
not as intense, but one feels it more. 

One member of the party offers two bits for 

197 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

a regulation papoose basket, with the papoose 
strapped in. The smiling; squaw throws it 
gracefully over her shoulder, places the broad 
strap across her forehead and })roudly walks 
away. We are running at high speed all day, 
and as night " pins her mantle with a star" we 
draw our curtains, shutting out the alkali plains, 
and at the peep of dawm look out upon "the 
same continued," Along the eastern horizon, 
however, sparkles a dark blue line, for we are 
approaching the Great Salt Lake. At Ogden 
we find an engine ready to draw us down a few 
miles to Salt Lake City, which we reach early 
in the day. We ride about its streets ; visit the 
grave of Brigham Young ; return to our cars 
for lunch and then attend the great Sunday 
service at the Mormon Tabernacle. Pictures 
have familiarized everybody with its roof like an 
enormous turtle's back, but its interior with a 
seating capacity variously estimated at from 
twelve to fifteen thousand, is quite a sight. 
To-day, August 20, the galleries are not filled, 

jgS 



MOA'MOX r A BERN A CLE. 

but thousands are seated in the body of the 
house. Six " Apostles " with heads like 
billiard balls are breaking bread baek of a Tong 
table, and fillino; the fancy cake-baskets (sug- 
gestive of Meriden factories). Back of these, 
and a step higher, six more are seated, and 
a Bishop stands with uplifted hands in prayer. 
Back of this row, at the conclusion of the 
prayer, one rises and reads a hymn ; then 
further back a precentor raises his baton ; 
behind him an orchestra, and an immense or- 
ofan, and on either side orreat choirs of sins^ers. 
The enormous roof echoes pulsating throbs 
of music ; then Bishop George Bywater, who is 
a mechanic, delivers a long extempore harangue 
which, when condensed, is as follows : Mor- 
monism rests on Scripture ; is a continuation of 
revelation corresponding thereto, and we are 
happy in its reception. During the sermon, 
cake-baskets with broken l)read are passed 
around and water in silver cups, and every one 
present, old and young, partake about as un- 

igg 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

concernedly as children chew gum. There are 
in this world schemers and dupes ; they can be 
found in this place. There are congregations 
of happy-faced, intelligent people, but one will 
look in vain for them here. A visit to the 
Tabernacle will set one thinking, and if that is 
impossible, a ride about the city will do. The 
streets are very broad but there is everywhere 
the utmost slovenliness ; a general dilapidated, 
unkempt, don't-care-a-tive-ness. 

Here and there a pretty place, perhaps a 
gentile, perhaps an apostate, possibly a mag- 
nate of the church. One sees high adobe 
walls suggestive of a prison, with a rickety, 
ramshackle picket affair for a gate ; rough 
roads lined with high weeds ; tumble-down 
cobble-stone walls ; and crooked, broken 
fences. We find the grave of Brigham with- 
out any inscription in a corner of a green lawn, 
enclosed on two sides by stone walls, the third 
side barbed-wire fence and the fourth nothing, 
being a bank wall of cobble. 



MORMON MOB. 

Here are splendid business blocks (also 
church tithes). This is a fertile valley, yet 
after reading the glowing " Garden of Eden " 
accounts the visit is a disappointment. The 
power here is an absolute despotism vested in 
the church and carried on under the forms of 
a democracy. Yesterday was a bloody day. 
A colored man shot the chief of police who 
was attempting to arrest him. The chief was 
a Mormon bishop and revenge came instantly. 
The colored man was beaten, shot, kicked and 
pounded until his face w^as a piece of flesh ; 
was hung to a beam, then cut down and the 
mangled, bleeding body drawn by a howling 
mob through the dust of the street. It was 
proposed to drag him through all the principal 
streets, and hang up what was left in a public 
place, but the Mayor knowing what a shock 
such a proceeding would produce among civil- 
ized-communities, put a stop to it. 

On our return from the great tabernacle we 
took carriages for the lake, and a bath in its 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

waters. ^Vhat a bath I Ocean water is said 
to be seven per cent, salt — this is twenty-two ! 
Any person can sit, stand or He down without 
sinking. We floated around hke corks. We 
could not swim, because the feet could not be 
kept under water. The Dead Sea is the only 
body of water on the earth as salt as this. 
The bath in these waters is as delightful as it is 
novel. 

We return home ; take dinner, and by ap- 
pointment receive a friend who is a gentleman 
of culture, a resident here for many years. 
All the evening and late into the night we 
listen to his expositions of Mormonism, at 
times with breathless interest. It is an even- 
ing never to be forgotten. Would to heaven 
the good people of this country could see and 
hear for themselves. 

Front Itineriiry. 

" Shortly after leaving Ogden, and thirteen 
miles from that place, the train enters the por- 
tals of the " Devil's Gate," beyond which lie 



OVER THE MOUNTAINS. 

Weber and Eeho Canons, both of which are 
filled with strange rock formations. The 
"thousand-mile tree," which marks the dis- 
tance from Omaha, is within the Weber Canon, 
thirtv-two miles from Qo-den 

The day will be passed chiefly upon the 
great grazing plains of Wyoming. The scen- 
ery along the Green River is remarkable on 
account of the strange rock formations. The 
Uintah range of mountains is crossed at Aspen, 
at an elevation of 7835 feet, and the true con- 
tinental divide at Creston, twenty-five miles 
west of Rawlins, at an elevation of 7300 feet. 
The highest point upon the road, 8235 feet, 
will be reached at Sherman. The point here 
crossed is not upon the main range of the 
Rocky Mountains, but upon a spur of the 
Black Hills. While passing through Wyom- 
ing the antelope is likely to become a common 
object, although these animals are not so nu- 
merous as formerly. Some of the lofty peaks 
of Colorado are seen from the vicinity of 

203 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Cheyenne. The raihoad crosses from Wyom- 
ing into Nebraska about fifty miles east of 
Cheyenne. The western section of Nebraska, 
like a large part of Wyoming, is given up 
principally to grazing, but the valley of the 
Platte, which the railroad follows for several 
hundred miles, is richly productive. 

Between Council Bluffs and Cedar Rapids 
the road traverses a rich agricultural section of 
Iowa. The aim of the road was for as direct 
a line and as light gradients as possible, with- 
out regard to the old towns. There has, how- 
ever, sprung up on this line in Iowa some very 
smart and flourishing towns, such as Neola, 
Defiance, Coon Rapids, Ferry, Pickering and 
Tama. Marion is reached at 5.15 a.m.; this is 
one of the loveliest towns in the State, and is 
the center of one of the best dairy farming 
localities in the great West. Leaving this 
point the road passes through the most fertile 
portions of Iowa and Illinois. From Marion 
a branch runs to Cedar Rapids, one of the 

204 



ILLINOIS. 

oldest and best towns in the State. Oxford 
Junction is reached at 6.41 ; at this point 
branches run to Davenport and Rock Island, 
as well as to all points in Northern Iowa, 
Minnesota and Dakota. Sabula on the west 
and Savanna on the east bank of the Missis- 
sippi are the next towns of importance, and are 
connected by one of the finest iron and steel 
bridges in the country. 

The Illinois section of the Chicago and 
Council Bluffs Short Line is one of the finest 
constructed and finished roads in the country, 
traversing the bonanza portion of the great 
Prairie State, crossing the Rock River valley 
and following that of the Fox. Elgin, the 
seat of the celebrated watch factory and the 
home of numerous other extensive and popular 
industries, lies on this line some thirty-seven 
miles from Chicago. This piece of road liter- 
ally flows with viilk, the profits therefrom 
constituting the Jioncy of the dairymen." 



20j 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Saturday, Aug. 27. 

A quiet sleep prepares us for an early start 
for Ogden, thirty-four miles, with a tip-top 
breakfast en route. An hour here makes up 
a special train for Omaha ten hundred and 
thirty-three miles. 

The morning is hot; we soon strike the Devil's 
Gate, a canon picturesque, rugged and wild. 
Just at the opening beyond, a colony of three 
hundred and twenty-five were massacred by the 
Mormons a few years ago. In the rich valley 
we look through the vibrating heated air to see 
the snow on the mountains. Weber Canon is 
fine and unlike any other yet seen, ending in a 
lofty mass with curiously rounded butresses and 
pinnacles. Here is the celebrated Devil's Slide 
and Devil's Cave. The Weber River which we 
have followed all the morning empties into the 
Great Salt Lake. We soon reach the Echo 

206 



ECHO caS'on: 

Canon and find the most curious rocks. The 
face of the perpendicular chffs for miles is hol- 
lowed and cut into myriads of fantastic forms. 
Alono; the top are still seen the rocks placed 
there by the Mormons for the purpcjse of 
slaughtering the United States troops a few 
years ago. An accident which detained the 
troops saved them from massacre. 

The Tower, Steamboat Point, Thousand 
Mile Tree, Pulpit Rock and the Hanging Rock 
are interesting points. At Evanston (altitude 
about 7,000 feet), we stop for an hour. A 
tribe of Wahsatch Indians and a few Shoshones 
furnish diversion and an opportunit}^ to trade 
for trinkets. At Wahsatch we enter the vast 
territory of Wyoming. The day's ride is in a 
narrow sage-bush valley with peculiar side hills, 
some resembling earthworks, some clusters of 
tents, pyramids, cones and terraces. 

At the Green River Canon all the novel 
scenes of the kind are outdone. Here are 
lofty walls, perfectly vertical, with horizontal 

20"/ 



rOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

lines of varying shades — white, gray, blue, 
brown and black — lifting lofty castles against 
the sky and presenting a spectacle of rare 
beauty. Farther on, at the foot of a wonder- 
ful cliff, the town nestles, the long line of 
buildings fronting a broad plaza. Cages of 
wild animals are here, panthers and bears being 
captured on the premises. General Charles 
Roone, of New York, joins us for a short visit. 
In jollity and mirth the evening swiftly flies. 
Notwithstanding the heat of the day the night 
is cold. 

August 28. — Our train is very heavy and 
the grades during the night steep. The brakes 
did not hold and the train drew the engine 
back several times. We lost two hours. No 
spare engine on this division, since there are 
seven sections of the train back of us. At 
Laramie, a city of 3,500 inhabitants, the train 
stops nearly an hour. We make the acquain- 
tance of Mr. John W. Donnellan, cashier of 
the Laramie National Bank, who shows us a 

20S 



THE SUMMIT. 

fine banking building with excellent appoint- 
ments and gives us much information concern- 
ing the cit}^ the territory, its climate, resources, 
etc. A mine of crystallized soda with veins 
and beds several feet in thickness has recently 
been opened and chemical works are being 
established. Two miles away a mountain 
spring discharges pure water enough to fill a 
twelve-inch main for city use and also supplies 
a broad stream of running water to every street 
gutter. The spring is 135 feet above the city 
level. We moV'C slowly up grade to Sherman. 
" How is this for high !" Altitude 8,242 feet ! 
We notice the monument of Oakes Ames 
on the summit. The party are becoming 
accustomed to high altitudes, and no one suf- 
fers any inconvenience, although in one of 
the forward cars a gentleman is dangerously 
ill from heart-disease. From Sherman to 
Cheyenne the descent is over 2,000 feet. The 
roads run a short distance through a country 
full of rocks, then follow broad meadows and 

2og 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

plains, in some places a little rolling. We all 
supposed that mountain }:»asses would be. found, 
and are surprised to find gradually descending 
prairies. Enormous herds of cattle are seen, 
and, of course, great numbers of "cow boys." 
Sir Knight, the Major H. H. Strong, rejoins 
us at Cheyenne, having gone on ahead for a 
visit with friends. His Honor Sir Knio-ht 
Doolittle meets here a schoolmate, Mr. Allen 
Bristol, and we are favored with a visit from 
Sir Knight S. A. Bristol and wife, also Pro- 
fessor J. E. Starke and wife. The professor 
has conducted the hi2:h school at Chevenne for 
eleven years. From Cheyenne eastward the 
same beautiful plains are seen becoming more 
and more green and all very fertile but requir- 
ing irrigation. We find no change until after 
crossing the Nebraska line. In the vicinity of 
Sydney are cultivated fields with low rocky 
ledges. At Salt Lake City we noticed " Uncle 
Sam's boys," a military post being established 
there, and we find another at this point. The 



THROUGH NEBRASKA. 

entire route from the summit is a table- 
land meadow exceedingly well fitted for graz- 
ing. Just after reaching the North Platte the 
cry of "fire" is heard; a long line of flame is 
running across the prairie. The sunset on the 
plains is also a very pretty sight. During the 
evening visits are exchanged with the Mary 
Commandery, of Philadelphia, whose cars are 
attached to our own. 

We cross the South-Platte in the evening 
and have been riding beside the Platte all night, a 
broad, shallow river full of shifting sands. 
The gradually descending grade of yesterday 
still continues. Our ride through Nebraska is 
a descent of 7,000 feet. 

The morning of the 29th finds us within 
eighty miles of Omaha, in a region suggestive 
of New England scenery. Rains have fallen 
and the rich dark green grass looks refreshing. 
Numerous trees of various kinds are in sight. 
Soon we come to level fields burdened with 
heavy crops, in the fertile valley of the Platte. 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

At Trcmont, forty-seven miles from Omaha, 
we receive notice of an accident ahead and are 
compelled to wait. After a delay of a few 
hours, during which time several trains come 
up, we proceed to the wreck. A freight train 
ran into another at the switch. The locomo- 
tive was scattered about, twelve cars were de- 
molished, eight of these being stacked up at 
right angles with the track. No one was 
seriously injured. A new track is laid down 
the embankment connecting with the siding, 
and slowly we "slide down hill," passing 
around the ruin. After a short stop at Omaha 
we cross the great bridge over the Missouri 
river. At Council Bluffs while the cars are 
cleaned, the time is well filled up. All hands 
are weighed at the baggage rooms and all have 
gained since leaving home, the gain being from 
three to seven pounds each. Some astonishing 
time is made in certain " go as you please " races. 
The truck racing is also interesting. The amount 
of exercise the ladies can endure, is astonishing. 



INTO IOWA. 

When starting for home we picked up a poor, 
sick, penniless boy from Connecticut, L. D. 
Pierce by name, and raising a purse, purchased 
for him a ticket to Council Bluffs. We find 
him here and the kind-hearted railroad officials 
grant him a pass to Chicago, which is the end 
of their line. Mr. A. Alice, western district 
passenger agent of the Chicago, Milwaukee 
and St. Paul, joins our party to accompany us 
the entire length of their line — 490 miles. Since 
leaving San Francisco we have already traveled 
1,935 miles. 

Into the giant state of Iowa we speed. The 
wonderful fertility of these rich rolling land's 
exceeds belief. A concert whiles away the 
evening hour. During the early part of the 
night no less than four prairie fires are seen. 
The Central Missouri and St. Paul railroad is 
well built, and the train runs at high speed, 
yet most of the party sleep soundly. The 
grade is slightly ascending to " the divide," 
from which point the water runs west to the 

^'3 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Missouri and east to the Mississippi, which river 
we cross in the morning over a very line bridge. 
All the lands seen in Iowa are very fertile, but 
the western portion is the best. Illinois is also 
a beautiful country. The land is very produc- 
tive, and fine farms are everywhere. It is 
more thickly settled, and is a pleasant land 
indeed. The views as we pass are refreshing. 
Elgin is the greatest butter market in the 
world. We are nearing Chicago, which sug- 
gests home. 

August 30. — On reaching Chicago the party 
take carriages for a ride about the city, while 
the transfer is made to the depot of the Grand 
Trunk road. Sight-seeing and a dinner at the 
Grand Pacific fill up the time till early even- 
ing, when we start for Port Huron, after hav- 
ing returned thanks to Mr. A. Alice, of C. M. 
and St. P. R. R., for favors, and bidding adieu 
to Sir Knight Frank Piatt, who leaves us here 
for a visit with friends. \\"e are glad to wel- 
come Mr. W. W. Bartholomew, of Meriden, 

214 



INITIATION. 

who accompanies us from Chicago. A ticket is 
purchased for the boy picked up at San Fran- 
cisco. The officers of the Grand Trunk 
insisted on taking him along free and issued a 
pass, returning the money — one more favor to 
add to the long list received from the railroad 
companies. We compare records of the time. 
A run of forty miles was made in forty-two min- 
utes. One mile was made in fifty-seven seconds. 
The evening was delightfully passed, an amus- 
ing incident being the initiation of Mr. W. W. 
Bartholomew, the members of the party hav- 
ing passed through the same impressive cere- 
monies at the start. The gentleman is now 
entitled to sit in the car wherever h^^'Jias a 
mind " to. The road is excellent, and the 
speed immense, but we enjoy a good night's 
rest. 

August 31. — The morning bright and beau- 
tiful, finds us approaching the river St. Clair. 
We have no difficulty in appropriating a fine 
breakfast as we "roll along," and strike Port 

215 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Huron " in good order." The mighty mass of 
water pouring out of Lake Huron, with "cur- 
rent swift and strong," is crossed by ferry, the 
train is made up and we are off again through 
the Queen's Dominions. We are favored by 
another special train as far as London, at wdiich 
point we are attached to the regular. A little 
beyond London we notice an iron bridge swept 
from its abutments down the river, which must 
have risen from present level, 12 or 15 feet to 
even touch it. 

At Hamilton the train is made up for 
Toronto, giving us a pleasant ride along the 
shore of Lake Ontario. At Toronto we are to 
await the fast train for Montreal, and the hours 
are passed in sight-seeing. Some ride about 
the city, some visit the museum at the Educa- 
tional institute and some are entertained at the 
governor's palace. Several friends call to wel- 
come us, Mr. John Blackburn, Mr. Felix and 
others, from Meriden, and Mr. George G. 
Wingate, of Toronto, also paid us a visit. 

216 



FINAL FROLIC. 

This latter gentleman is a member of a party 
who used one of our cars for a long trip last 
summer. 

It is dark as we again pursue our homeward 
way. This is the last night of the trip and the 
entire party join in a jolly frolic. The ladies, 
probably taking the cue from the Yosemite 
robbers, disguised themselves, leaving only the 
eyes visible ; then the Sir Knights were com- 
pelled to guess which one was his wife, under 
the penalty of a heavy forfeit. The portion of 
the Queen's Dominion traversed during: the 
evening rang with peals of merry laughter. 
Then the Sir Knisrhts and their ladies a^ather- 
ing about the piano, we sang "the old songs" 
together for the last time, and finishing our 
frolic laughed ourselves to sleep. It will 
be some time ere we shall forget the long 
search for the wrench, and the sad plight, 
of Sir Knight John W, Coe, the dampness 
of whose sleeping suit entitled him to com- 
miseration. 

21^ 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Saturday, Sept. i. — A lovely, cool morn- 
ing finds us approaching Montreal. On our 
arrival we are met by our good friend Sir 
Knight S. W. Cummings, general passenger 
agent of the Vermont Central railroad, who 
inquires kindly concerning our trip, our health 
and our wants, gives us a pass to Springfield 
for the San Francisco boy and bids us good- 
bye. He leaves by next train to meet the 
Boston Commandery. At breakfast we are 
leaving Montreal, and on crossing the line the 
words of the old song ring out in chorus, 
" Hurrah for old New England with her cloud- 
capped granite hills," 

As we speed along all are collected in one 
car, and the property of the party is disposed 
of at auction. Then a number of resolutions 
are passed, dividing the provisions among the 
cooks, porters and waiters, and thanking Sir 
Knis^ht E. C. Birdsev for the labor accom- 
plished in preparations for this successful trip. 
Also, Sir Knight R. T. Cook and Sir Knight 

218 



RESOLUTIONS AND SPEECH. 

John W. Coe for the manner in which they 
have discharored their duties as commissaries." 
Also, appointintj a committee of three, of 
which Sir Knight Levi E. Coe is chairman, 
to draft resolutions to be forwarded to all parties 
who have favored us during our pilgrimage, 
expressive of our appreciation of their efforts 
for our pleasure and comfort, and our thanks 
for the same. 

Sir Knights E. J. Doolittle and E. C. Birdsey 
were appointed as the other members of this 
committee. 

The following was voted : That the treasurer 
be instructed to refund to the Sir Knights who 
w^ere prevented from accompanying us, the 
money received from them. 

Sir Knight George S. Taylor, in a neat 
speech, thanked the party for the invitation to 
accompany them. He assured us that both 
himself and his wife consider this forty-one 
days' pilgrimage the pleasantest trip of their 
lifetime ; that they both anticipated very much 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

from the journey, but that the realization had 
vastly exceeded their most extravagant dreams. 
Sir Knight H, H. Strong also returned thanks 
in behalf of himself and his wife, using expres- 
sions of similar import. Both Sir Knights 
remarked upon the fact that during the forty- 
one days there has been from first to last in 
both cars absolute and perfect harmony. 

The following was unanimously 

Resolved : That the historian, with the assist- 
ance of the executive committee, be instructed 
to prepare in permanent form a history of the 
journey, also adding to the executive commit 
tee the name of Sir Knight Eli C. Birdsey. 

The meeting adjourned with regret that it is 
the last of a long series of regular meetings of 
this party. 

We are rejoiced to greet Mr. and Mrs. W. 
W. Lyman, who came on board en route for 
Brattleboro, taking this train at Montpelier 
Junction. We are glad to have their company 
at our last dinner. We have traveled more 



NEW ENGLAND SCENERY. 

than nine thousand miles and so near home 
have the first hot box. Fortunately we are 
near White River Junction, where a stop for 
dinner holds the train a sufficient length of 
time to substitute a new one. The New Eng- 
land scenery is delightful. It is safe to assume 
that every member of the party looks upon 
these lovely hill-sides with the utmost pleasure. 
The valley of the Connecticut is celebrated 
for the fertility of its sunny slopes, no less 
than for its scenic beauty. Its special charm 
for us, however, lies not in its shifting scenes, 
ministering to the " love of the beautiful," nor 
to its famed husbandrv, but rather in the senti- 
ment which finds expression in " Home Again." 
We find at Springfield the train for Meriden 
awaiting our arrival, the hour for its departure 
having passed. Sir Knight George W. Taylor 
and wife leave us at this point for their home 
in Chicopee. We bid them adieu with pain, 
regretting that "the best of friends must 
part." 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Hurriedly the arrangements are made ; our 
cars attached to the " Steamboat train " for 
home, and we are off ; having first bidden 
adieu to the friends who meet us here and to 
the sick lad who is now nearly home, who says 
with tear-bedimmed eyes and trembling voice, 
" God bless you all." 

At Berlin we are surprised by the entrance 
of Sir Knight W. F. Davis, Sir Knight Geo. 
W. Miller, Sir Knight W. F. Rockwell, Sir 
Knight W. L. Stoddard, J. H. Mabbett, of the 
Prcss-Rccordc}', and W. F. Graham of the 
Rcpiiblicaii. 

" Home again. Home again," is ringing 
through the car as we stop at Meriden. The 
band is playing outside and our beloved Sir 
Knights of St. Elmo with the city officers and 
members of the common council are waiting 
to welcome the party whose trip across the 

continent is over. 

I add here the names of those who have 
served us. Upon the car " Chas. B. Pratt," 



WELCOME HOME. 

Noah C. Johnson, porter; Ellis Scales, cook ; 
R. A. Jeffrey, waiter. Upon the car " City of 
Worcester," A. W. Clough, porter; James 
Carter, cook ; Henry Smith, waiter. 

In closing these hastily written letters I 
must be permitted to return thanks to the 
many kind friends and courteous Sir Knights 
to whom we are largely indebted for informa- 
tion imparted. It has been our good fortune 
to meet everywhere numbers of well-informed 
people, and all anxious to serve us in this as in 
other particulars. 

The following, from an editorial in a local 
paper, tells the story of the welcome home : 
"The St. Elmo Tourists arrived home accord- 
ing to their Itinerary, Saturday evening, only 
three-quarters of an hour behind time. The 
hearty welcome from their brother Templars 
and the citizens generally, who thronged the 
platform, was a spontaneous testimonial of the 
people's esteem and good wishes. The circum- 

223 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

Stance of the train being forty-seven minutes 
late at Hartford, afforded opportunity to meet 
the travelers at Berlin. Those who availed 
themselves of it found each looking the pic- 
ture of health. None gave evidence of weari- 
ness, and even the ladies declared themselves 
ready to undertake a similar journey if they 
could occupy the special cars which had carried 
them with such comfort over the 10,000 miles 
of their journeyings. Nearing Meriden the 
party joined in the chorus " Home Again." 
On their arrival at the depot they found the 
Reform School Cornet Band in waiting to pay 
its respects to the distinguished party. The 
enlivening music was a compliment wholly 
unexpected though highly appreciated by the 
travelers. This, however, was only one inci- 
dent of the "Welcome Home." So many 
swarmed into the palace cars that the train 
was detained fully twenty minutes. The long 
absent ones saw the platform black with peo- 
ple, anxious to welcome them. Sir M. Beatty, 

224 



WELCOME HOME. 

C. G. of St. Elmo, was there with twenty-two 
Sir Knights, Acting Mayor Curtis, with the 
entire Common Council were among the multi- 
tude, and it looked as if the entire city were out. 
The assemblage of July 23d, on the occasion 
of the departure of the party, was a mere bag- 
atelle compared with the vast concourse gath- 
ered to welcome them. It was a long time 
before the tourists were able to reach their 
carriages, so general and generous was the in- 
formal ovation tendered them. Mr. and Mrs. 
George S. Taylor, of Chicopee Falls, Mass., 
who accompanied the party, were also enthu- 
siastically received by numerous friends at 
home, and were serenaded by a cornet band, 
under the direction of workmen of the Belcher 
& Taylor Mfg. Co., who, with about 500 
friends and neighbors called to pay their 
respects. H. H. Strong and wife, of New 
Haven, also members of the party, received 
the congratulations of a host of friends on 
their arrival home. 



TOUR OF THE ST. ELMO'S. 

* 

The reminiscences of the trip given by the 
tourists are very interesting, and would fill a 
volume. They are very enthusiastic when 
speaking of the lavish hospitality of the peo- 
ple of the Pacific coast. Nothing was left 
undone to make their stay pleasant. Templar 
emblems were seen in floral designs upon 
lawns in all parts of San Francisco, showing 
how the visit was anticipated. 

The praise of Mrs. Wm. P. Morgan is upon 
every tongue, and if ample justice was not 
accorded to her generosity and hospitality it is 
because the English language is inadequate. 

The Meriden party were singled out at 
many points for especial courtesies. The press 
of San Francisco and other prominent cities 
heralded their coming and descanted upon 
their elaborate moving hotels, which the palace 
cars really are, and laid stress upon the fact 
that the "St. Elmo's of Meriden, Conn.," 
paraded with a larger number of swords in 
proportion to its membership than any other 

326 



FINIS. 



Commandeiy east of the Mississippi, and that 
no tourist party from the East ever visited the 
Golden Gates in such regal style, which is a 
compliment to Connecticut, to Meriden, and 
to our home Commandery." 




TO 





OF Tl^E 



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